


Supernatural

by Sweetness4you



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: All the other relationships is background, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Character's Name Spelled as Hanji, Drama, Editing (At some point), Eremin is the focus, F/F, Hanji is nb, M/M, Mild Gore, Slow Burn, Supernatural AU - Freeform, cheezy, over dramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 10:28:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 73,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetness4you/pseuds/Sweetness4you
Summary: This is a CW Supernatural AU.Eren is a hunter, when his parents go missing on a hunt he wants to go looking for them. However, Mikasa and Armin refuse to let him go alone. The trio go on a deadly adventure of hunting monsters, saving people all while looking for Eren's missing parents.The world the trio knows is changing and its up to them to keep it together.(Warning there is gore but I've edited out most of it and during my next edit I'll tone it down more in any given chapter. Just remeber that it's still there.)





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first fic. I swear it will get better so thanks for dealing with me and my writing <3 
> 
> just a note but this is heavily based on the first few seasons of the show, so check it out :)
> 
> Just a reminder there is gore in this fic.
> 
> Enjoy.

Anyone that looked at Eren would think he was the most normal boy they’d ever seen, they wouldn’t even give him a second glance- that’s how normal the boy looked. Sure, he was known in the town for getting in trouble, always getting into fights with the bigger kids- to defend his best friend of course- but other than that he looked normal. He had his family- his parents and sister, his best friend, he acted like any other kid would- spending his time walking and playing on the streets with his sister and best friend. However, Eren wasn’t a normal boy. He didn’t have a normal family, he didn’t have a normal life. The only tie to the normal world Eren had was his best friend, he was a normal boy- quite the opposite to Eren, but the boys were like two sides to the same coin. Living their lives in different worlds but still attached to one another.

You see Eren wasn’t a normal boy because his parents are both hunters and they train him to follow in their footsteps- to hunt down and kill the evil in this world and to save human lives, lives that would be taken if these _things_ were left unchecked. Hunting the supernatural and saving lives is just what the Jaeger family did, it’s all Eren ever knew.

Because of Eren’s strange upbringing he never got along with any of the other kids, that was okay with Eren because they didn’t know what _he_ knew. But when they moved to Shiganshina, there was a peculiar blonde boy that caught his eye. He seemed to live close by, or that was what Eren assumed at the time as he saw the boy everywhere- maybe Eren was seeking out the boy unknowingly, he couldn’t tell. The boy was short and looked far too small in his overly large blue coat, with blonde hair that reached his chin and covered his forehead. He found it strange that whenever the boy walked past his house he always seemed to be covered in bruises, _maybe the boy was training to hunt like Eren- he was always getting battered up from that_. Eren finally became tired of watching the boy and wondering about who he was and why he was always getting hurt, so Eren followed the boy. It wasn’t hard- his parents always stressed the importance of being able to sneak up on one’s pray. That’s when Eren saw it, he was peeking out from behind a wall watching the blonde when bigger kids had cornered him. Eren watched to see what would happen, he watched as the older kids harassed the smaller boy- but he didn’t run away, _why didn’t he run away?_ Eren couldn’t fathom why this boy was just standing there taking their insults and soon their fists, but still the smaller boy just took it- he wouldn’t move an inch.

When the bigger kids finally moved away from the boy, leaving him there to cry, Eren finally spoke. That day Eren got the name of the boy he had been watching, the boy who would be his best friend and only thing he had other than hunting- his name is Armin Arlert.

It was strange at first- having a friend. Eren’s mother, Carla, encouraged Eren when he told his parents about this new friend of his. His father, Grisha, on the other hand was not so pleased. Grisha had insisted that making friends that were not hunters like them was too risky and they could move at any time to follow the hunt. However, with much persistence from Carla, Grisha had agreed that maybe sticking around for Eren to have some scene of normalcy was a good idea. From then on when Eren wasn’t training he spent his time with Armin. He found Armin to be quite strange, by his standers which wasn’t saying much since he spent his whole life training to hunt monsters, Armin wasn’t like the other kids he met where ever he moved with his parents. Armin still didn’t know what was out there, but he wasn’t like the other kids and Eren liked that. They were both strange and didn’t fit in and that made the two of them fit together just fine, even if they didn’t have all that much in common.

When the inevitable happened and Eren’s parents found their next hunt he was ready to be taken away to never see Armin again. He was ready to accept that he wouldn’t have the time to bid the blonde boy farewell. But that didn’t happen. His parents instead asked Armin’s parents, more so his grandfather than his parents, if Eren could stay for a few days while they were on a ‘business trip’. The old man was more than glad to take care of the other boy, he was Armin’s first friend after all. This was a surprise, but he didn’t expect this to be something regular, which it soon became so. His parents going on a hunt and leaving him at Armin’s to be taken care of by his grandfather. But the first time Eren stayed at the other boy’s house will always be the most important night of his life. The night stuck in his head and would never go away.

Eren had been trying to sleep in this new and strange place that was Armin’s house when he felt small hands push him. Eren immediately shot out of bed, _what if it was a monster?_ He would need to protect Armin from it, he was trained for this moment. However, when Eren’s eyes landed on the blonde boy standing at the side of his bed he calmed down, it was a false alarm, but a hunter could never be too careful. The blonde smiled at Eren before climbing onto the bed next to him, although he struggled thanks to the book he was holding onto. The two talked in shushed tones as they poured over the book, they didn’t want to wake Armin’s grandfather. But Eren was amazed at how excited Armin was by this one book, a book about all stories of adventures. In the dim light of the lamp next to the bed Eren couldn’t see Armin very well but, he stared at the other boy while he talked about the adventures they could have one day. When Armin said this and stared back into Eren’s eyes, with rosy cheeks, he was too transfixed on the other boy's eyes, his big bright shiny hazel eyes, to completely listen to what he was saying so he just nodded along. He wanted more than anything to be able to take this boy on adventures, to leave right now with him, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do that with all the monsters in this world and he hated it.

However, one of his parents hunts they had decided to bring him along. _It wouldn’t be dangerous_ , they had said, _it was only a nest of vampires and there would be another family of hunters with them- a good learning experience for the kids_. That hunt would be the first time Eren had met another kid like him, a hunter’s kid. But, the hunt didn’t go as expected. They were too late; the vampires had found where they were staying and had slaughtered them. Blood painted the walls where they had ripped their throats out and fed on their blood. This only served as a reminder to Eren as to why they must hunt. However, it looked as if they had taken the child back to their nest with them. They had quickly found and destroyed the nest, saving the little girl. Eren then found that her name was Mikasa Ackerman and his family took her in. After this incident made Grisha and Carla decide that the children won’t join them on hunt for two more years.

Armin first met Mikasa was when Carla and Grisha decided to go on another hunt. Eren had wanted to introduce his best friend to his new sister for the few weeks between hunts, but Carla said that after such a traumatic experience she needed time to adjust. Armin was confused when he saw the girl walk into his house with the Jaeger family, Eren’s parents told Armin and his grandfather that they had left to adopt Mikasa. Armin’s Grandfather was all too happy to take care of both children while their parents were away. The two, Armin and Mikasa, were very nervous around each other with both relying on Eren to make them both feel comfortable with the new child with them. However, by the next day Mikasa and Armin happily silently played together. The two of them sitting in the living room playing with Armin’s dolls, although Eren refused to play with the dolls he silently watched the two play. He wouldn’t admit it, but he felt jealous of the interaction. The three of them became inseparable.  With that Eren and Armin’s duo became a trio.

When Eren and Mikasa turn twelve their parents start bringing them to some of their hunts and letting the children hunt with them. The first hunt the family go on is hunting a ghost. Eren had found it annoying to be cramped in the car while driving to the new hunt, he hadn’t needed to drive with his parent like this for four years now, at least not counting the hunt that Mikasa joined their hunting family. He missed getting to go over to Armin’s house while his parents were away, but they had promised Eren that the hunt would be quick, and he could be back with his best friend as soon as possible. He wished Armin was there, the car ride wouldn’t be so boring if he was there. All Eren had to entertain himself with was to watch the world pass him by through the window and to listen to his parents talk quietly about the hunt. He heard his parents say the ghost that they are hunting is a vengeful spirit and had killed some kids that had gone exploring an abandoned house with some of their friends. Eren rolled his eyes at this, _don’t people know not to go into abandoned buildings?_ But that’s why they were here, they’re here to kill the monster to save more human lives.

When they finally made it to the area of the hunt in was already dark, so Grisha decided to go straight to the abandoned building to check out the place. Eren got in trouble for separating from the group, Mikasa had dragged him back to their parents before being scolded by them. He thought to himself that it would be more fun if Armin was with him, but he was thankful he wasn’t here it was too dangerous here. The hunt took a few days before making their way back home. Eren was happy to be back home with Armin. These family hunts became more and more often as they got older. He was determined to kill all the supernatural creatures but missed being with Armin as often as he used to be.


	2. Chapter Two

By the age of seventeen Eren and Mikasa are fully trained hunters, raised like warriors and desensitized to the horror that is hunting. Eren had overheard his parents talking about another hunt, this meant they would be leaving soon again he guessed. He made a mental note to seek out Armin to tell him goodbye when his parents tell them when their leaving.

He sits down at the dining table with Mikasa. He serves himself some breakfast and mentions what he overheard their parents say. All she does in response was nod at him. He wants to try and continue the discussion on this potential new hunt when their parents walk into the room making him shut his mouth. Grisha sits down in front of his children while Carla rushes through the house packing up a duffel bag.

“We found another hunt, but we think it’s just a ghost. So, your mother will be going alone.” Grisha says calmly to his children.

“What? Why?” Eren frown. They usually go on hunts as a family, it’s safer that way.

“Don’t worry, Eren, it’ll just be a few days. It is just a ghost.” Carla chuckles while zipping up the duffel bag on her shoulder.

“But hunting together is safer, we should all go!” Eren smacked his hands on the table, getting a pointed look from Mikasa.

Grisha shakes his head at his son’s outburst, while Carla laughs. “What happened to you whining about wanting to stay behind with Armin?”

Eren’s face heats up. “Shut up,” He mutters.

Carla sits down and drops the bag on the floor at her feet. “I’ll be fine, one day you guys will be able to go on your own hunts alone.”

“You’d actually let us go on hunts alone?” Eren asks.

“I won’t let you go alone.” Mikasa finally speaks up.

“I can go on hunts on my own!” Eren says, frustrated with Mikasa’s over protectiveness.

“Eren, you are far from being mature enough to go on hunts by yourself, so stop thinking about it.” Grisha says nonchalantly.

Eren crosses his arms and frowns at his father. “I still don’t know why mum is going on a hunt alone.”

Carla ignores Eren’s pestering while quickly finishing her own breakfast, but Grisha responds for her. “Because your mother is capable of taking care of herself, it’s an easy hunt and we’ll stay here waiting to find another hunt-” Eren goes to open his mouth to speak but Grisha cuts him off, “Eren, stop arguing and just be quiet.”

Eren decides to follow his father’s orders and looks down to finish his breakfast. Although he may have stopped arguing with his father he is still very frustrated with his mother going on a hunt by herself.   

After the family breakfast Carla finishes packing up all the gear she needs for the hunt. Filling the boot with weapons and throws the duffel back full of clothes and money in the back seat. Carla turns around and kisses Grisha good-bye before hugging each of her children. She gets into the car and rolls down the window on the driver’s side, smiling at her family. “Bye guys, I’ll be home soon.” She backs out of the driveway, honking the horn and waving good-bye as she drives away.

Eren frowns and turns to his father wanting to continue the argument now that his mother is gone, but Grisha glares at Eren and walks back inside not giving him the time to say anything to him. Mikasa gives Eren a quick look before quickly walking in after Grisha. Eren looks down at the ground and walks down the street and away from his house. He needs to be away from that world, he needs to be away from hunting and away from anything supernatural. He goes to find the only place he can have a break from his world. The only break from the hunting horror that Eren calls a life is his best friend, Armin- his sanctuary. Eren’s sanctuary from his dark life.

He follows his feet until he finds himself in front of Armin’s house. Eren smiles when he sees the blonde sitting under the tree in his front yard reading a book. Eren presses his back against the trunk and sinks down next to Armin, taking a small glance over to the book Armin is reading.

Without looking up Armin acknowledges Eren, “What’s up, Eren?”

Eren shrugs, “Oh- you know, nothing much.” Eren pushes his shoulder against Armin’s, looking at his book again. “What are you reading?”

Armin closes his book and looks at Eren, “Is something wrong?”

Eren looks away from Armin. “My mum is just going on a business trip- She’s leaving us behind this time, but dad is staying too.”

“That hasn’t happened in a while.”

“Yeah, I just wanted to go with her.” Eren shrugs.

Armin leans his head against Eren’s shoulder, “Well now you get to hang out with me more.”

Eren smiles softly and looks at Armin, “Yeah, that’s the good part of not having to go this time.”

After hearing this Armin’s cheeks tinge pink and hums in response. Eren closes his eyes and rests his head on top of Armin’s head.

They sit in silence, the shade of the tree protecting them from the warm morning sun. The two spent the day sitting under the tree together, with Armin reading his book aloud to Eren. He didn’t really care what this book was about, it seemed to be about some teen drama, all Eren cared about was hearing Armin’s voice. His voice was able to calm Eren down and make him happy. Eren was awaken from his daze listening to Armin by the blonde’s grandfather calling him inside. Armin closed his book and got up, Eren fell to the side slightly from the lack of Armin’s body supporting him up. Eren got up after and they both bid each other good-bye. Eren watches as Armin retreats inside his house before heading home.

The days waiting for Carla to come home passed slowly, with Eren spending his days with Armin and Mikasa. After a full week passes and Carla doesn’t come back, Grisha tries to contact her but she never answers. Eren and Mikasa become more worried for their mother’s safety.

The two ended up huddled together discussing the situation, “I knew she shouldn’t have gone alone!” Eren hisses under his breath to Mikasa.

“I know, but Carla is a strong hunter. I don’t understand why she’s having trouble with a simple ghost.” Mikasa closes her eyes and shakes her head.

Eren sighs and nudges Mikasa when he sees Grisha walk into the room, a stony look on his face.

“Children-” Grisha starts, “I think your mother is in trouble, I’m going to go look for her.”

“We’ll get ready to leave.” Eren goes to leave the room, but Grisha stops him without making eye contact.

“No, Eren- Just me.” Grisha pauses, “You kids will stay at Armin’s until I come back with your mother.”

Eren grits his teeth and knocks Geisha’s hand off his shoulder, “I said we should all go together, but you said ‘no.’ And now she’s gone, and you want to leave without us again?” By the end Eren was seething.

Mikasa shakes her head, “Eren, we don’t know what happened. This could be more dangerous that we know. We’re safer here.”

He glares at her, “What you think we should just stay here and do nothing?”

“We will be waiting here, where it’s safe. If Grisha needs us, then we’ll be there. But right now, all we should do is wait here where it’s safe.”

Eren notices that he’s being attacked on both sides, so he just shoulders past Grisha and marches up to his room slamming his door behind him. Gripping his hair in frustration. His mum is in danger and he can’t do anything, they won’t let him.

There’s a soft knock at his door, Eren sits down on his bed when Grisha walks in and sat down next to him. “I know you want to help, but if this hunt is more dangerous than we thought then I don’t want to put you or your sister in dangerous.”

Eren sighs and nods. Grisha gets up and walks out his room. Eren listens as Grisha hurries around the house to leave quickly. Grisha calls out a quick goodbye and then the door slams. Eren rests his head in his hands.

“Grisha called Armin’s grandfather and we can head over whenever.” Mikasa’s soft voice cuts through the silence.

“Yeah- Yeah, I’ll get ready.” Eren runs his hands through his hair.

Mikasa leaves his room and to get ready herself. Eren gets up from his bed and throws random clothes into a bag and swings it over his shoulder. He walks down and stands by the front door. Mikasa walks down soon after, a bag hanging from her shoulder. They both silently walk outside into the cool night air, locking the door behind them. They walk quietly down the street to Armin’s house. When they get to Armin’s house the door swings open and Armin in stands in the doorway, He smiles at them. Grisha obviously didn’t tell him that Carla is missing and for good reason. Mikasa silently walks inside, Armin just steps aside for her while waiting for Eren.

Eren walks up to Armin and grabs his hand, Armin looks down at their clasped hands and back up at Eren’s face. “Are you okay?” Armin’s eyes fill with concern for Eren’s down mood.

“Yeah, I- I’m just stressed.” He walks into Armin’s house pulling the other boy along with him. All he wanted right now was to be with the blonde, away from his world.

The two silently sit in Armin’s room, Eren resting his head on the other boy’s shoulder. Armin lets Eren stay with him. They curl up next to each other on Armin’s bed. He lets him stay close, because he knows Eren needs it right now. He needs to be close and he doesn’t ask further questions, Eren is thankful for it.

The next morning everything was tense, with Armin’s grandfather trying to ease the tension. He served them all pancakes, “Huh, so your dad got a last-minute call for a business trip?”

“Yeah.” Mikasa says quietly, pushing her food around on her plate awkwardly. Eren just grumbled in response.

Armin’s grandfather gave Armin a questioning look, “They’re just tired.” He excused their actions.

His grandfather nods at Armin, “Ah, yes. You guys did come over very late last night.” They fall back into a tense silence.

The days waiting for Grisha were painful for both Eren and Mikasa. They become more and more tense as the days past, both Armin and his grandfather become more worried about the two but don’t bother them with too many questions. After yet another week pass without Grisha or Carla showing up Eren had enough. He’s going to find them. At midnight Eren packs up all his stuff, he’s going to go back home and pack up what he needs for this hunt and he’ll set out to find them. He sneaks out of the guest room that he, sometimes, shares with his sister when at Armin’s house.

But, he couldn’t get past Mikasa. She stops him while he walks down the hall. “What do you think you’re doing, Eren?”

“I’m going to find mum and dad. We haven’t heard from them in ages, they need help. We should never have let them go alone.” Eren grits his teeth.

Mikasa presses a finger to her lips, “Be quiet, Eren. People are trying to sleep.” She frowns at him when she lets her arm drop to her side. “I know you’re angry, but you need to trust them to take care of themselves. They will come back for us.”

“No- No, Mikasa, they aren’t going to come back if we don’t look for them.”

“Eren-” Mikasa says sternly.

“We let mum go alone and now she’s missing!” Eren almost shouts this, Mikasa glares at his rising voice. “Now Dad went after her and he is missing too now. I’m going to find them- I have to find my parents, our parents.”

Mikasa’s eyes snap to Armin’s bedroom door that’s behind Eren. She frowns, “You woke him up, I told you to be quite- You can come out, Armin, it’s okay.”

Eren turns to look at Armin’s bedroom door. The door opens just a bit, part of Armin’s face is viable. “I didn’t mean to listen to your argument- I just heard you two fighting, I was worried.”

Mikasa shakes her head. Eren looks down at his feet, he didn’t want to bother Armin when he left. He looks back up to Armin, “Don’t worry about it, we’re fine.”

Armin opens his door completely, looking at the bad on Eren’s shoulders. “I heard you say your mum is missing- I thought she was on a business trip?”

“She is, they’re both on business trips- Don’t worry.” Mikasa says quickly.

“Why- Why do you have your bag, Eren?” Armin asks.

“Uh- I.” Eren looks to Mikasa for support.

“Yeah, Eren, why do you have your bag?” She puts her hands on her hips.

Eren grumbles, “Because I’m leaving.”

“Why are you leaving?” Mikasa jabs him with her words.

“Hold on,” Armin interjects. “I want to know what’s going on. Now tell me.” He demands the other two teens.

Eren and Mikasa share a look before Eren replies, “We can’t tell you that.”

“So, you just expect me to let you leave without telling me why?” Armin looks between Eren and Mikasa.

“I don’t want to leave, I don’t want him to leave.” Mikasa says.

“You both need to let me go.” Eren grumbles.

Armin bites his lower lip. If Eren wants to leave, for whatever reason, he wants to go with him. _But will he be able to help? Or will he just get in the way? But he needs to try, right?_ “If your parents are missing- I’ll go with you.” Armin finally says.

“No!” Both Eren and Mikasa says at the same time.

“Where Eren wants to go is too dangerous, Armin.” Mikasa says walking towards him.

“You’ll be safe staying here, you can’t come with me.” Eren looks away from the blonde.

Armin frowns at both. They don’t think he can do it. He knew it, he would just get in the way. Armin looks down at his feet, “I want to help, I want to help you guys.”

Mikasa moves forward and puts a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry, Armin. We can deal with this.”

“We?” Eren asks.

“Yes, we. You’re going no matter what I say, so I’ll come with you. You’ll die without me.” She replies.

Eren rolls his eyes in response, “Fine.”

“And you’re just going to leave me here? You’re going to run off and leave me behind?” Armin looks away from his two friends. They really thought he was so useless that they wouldn’t even want him to go with them.

“We want you to stay where it’s safe.” Mikasa squeezes his shoulder.

“I know I’ll slow you guys down, but I want to go with you.” Armin keeps his eyes trained on the wall behind the other two teens.

“You wouldn’t slow us down, I rely on you more than you know.” Eren tries to catch Armin’s gaze.

Armin looks over to Eren, staring into each other’s eyes. “Huh?”

“You’re important to me, I rely on you.” Eren says softly, maintaining eye contact with him.

“Then let me come with you, I want to help.”

Eren breaks eye contact with Armin and looks to Mikasa, she frowns at him, “I don’t know, Eren. It’ll be dangerous.” She sighs and looks at Armin, “We can’t promise to keep you safe.” Mikasa knows she can’t always keep both safe, but she knew she’ll try her best.

Armin nods in response. Eren looks between Mikasa and Armin, “You two should get ready if you want to come with me, and quickly. We don’t want to wake up Armin’s grandfather.”

The two of them turn away and walk into their respective rooms to pack up to leave.

The three of them group up in the living room after they’ve all finished getting ready. Mikasa opens the front door and walks out. Armin quickly scribbles a quick goodbye note for his grandfather, running into the kitchen to use a magnet to stick it to the fridge. When Armin comes back to the living room Eren grabs Armin by his upper arm then proceeds to walk out of the blonde’s house. They make their way back to the Jaeger household.

“I feel like we should have told my grandfather where we’re going.” Armin whispers to Eren as they walk down the dark street.

“No, we can’t tell him what’s going on.” Eren replies

“Well, when are you going to explain everything to me? I still don’t really know what’s happening.”

“We’ll explain when we get to my place.” With that the three of them quicken their pace.

They unlock the house, walking into the dark, silent room. Eren gestures for Armin to sit down and wait for them to grab what they need. They move around the house separately, searching through rooms for all the leftover weapons in the house. Grabbing the hunting supplies, loose cash and survival gear for their journey. Stuffing the supplies into their duffel bags and swinging them back over their shoulders.

Eren and Mikasa sit opposite Armin, Eren scratches the back of his neck. “I guess we have to explain everything to you now.”

Mikasa sighs, “This is going to be hard to believe, but you’re going to have to hear us out.”

“Okay,” Armin nods slowly at the other two.

Mikasa and Eren exchange a glace before looking back at Armin, “Our mother went on a hunting trip. She didn’t come back, so our dad went after her.”

“Why haven’t you contacted the police or something?” Armin frowns at the other two, “They could do more than us.”

“They don’t understand what’s going on, unlike us.” Mikasa gestures to herself and Eren.

“Heh, the police are useless. They can’t do anything right.” Eren grumbles under his breath.

 “Well, what’s going on?” Armin asks

Mikasa frowns at Eren and he replies, “There are- Monsters out there, supernatural creatures. We hunt and kill them to save people.”

“What? Supernatural creatures aren’t real.” He frowns at Eren.

“I know it’s hard to believe, right now, but you need to trust us. If you aren’t ready to come with use, that’s fine.” Mikasa speaks up before Eren can say anything.

“No, I’m already here I’m going with you.” Armin shakes his head.

“So- Do you believe us?” Eren asks him.

Armin bites his lower lip and looks away from the other two. The look on his face screaming that he doesn’t. “That’s okay, but if you want to come anyway you can.” Mikasa quickly says. Armin looks at her and nods. “Now that that’s settled, we need to leave quickly.” With that Mikasa gets up and walks out the door.

Eren glances at Armin before getting up and walking out after Mikasa. Armin watches Eren walk away, then getting up and is the last one out the door. Mikasa closes the door and locks the door after Armin walks outside.

“What are we doing now?” Armin asks.

“We get ourselves a car.” Mikasa says bluntly.

Armin frowns, “How would we do that?”

“Like this.” She grabs a long metal rod and pulls out a wooden wedge from her bag, walking down the street to a car parked on the street. It’s so dark that Armin can barely see what she’s doing. But, as he and Eren gets closer he notices that she’s using the heal of her palm to insert the wooden wedge into the top of the driver’s side door. He frowns and glances at Eren, who doesn’t seem to be concerned with what his sister is doing. Mikasa then proceeds to push the metal rod into the gap created by the wedge, she moves the rod around against the door until they hear the click of the lock. Mikasa quickly takes the rod and wedge out of the door and then opens the car door.

Armin gasps, “Mikasa! This is illegal.”

She looks up at him and shrugs, “How else are we supposed to get around?” She opens the back door while Eren moves to the passenger side door and gets into the car, putting his bag down between his feet. “Now get in, we need to leave before anyone notices us.” Mikasa throws her bag on the floor furthest away from the open door.

Armin looks between Mikasa, holding the door open, and the car seat. His stomach churns and gets into the car. Mikasa closes the door after him and moves to the driver’s side door, she sits down and closes the door behind her.

Eren digs through his bag before pulling out a device, it has a small screen and a few buttons on it with wires hanging from it. Armin frowns at it while Eren passes it to Mikasa. She then proceeds to plug it into the diagnostic port on the driver’s side, pressing a few buttons it starts to install. 

“What are you doing?” Armin asks softly.

“We’re stealing the car.” Eren says back to him, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“But don’t you need to cross some wires or something?” Armin asks.

“No, you’re thinking of movies or really old cars. That isn’t how modern cars work. Don’t worry we know what we’re doing, it’ll just take a while.” Mikasa responds, Eren hums in agreement.  

It finishes installing and Mikasa pulls the device out of the port. Eren then passes her a screwdriver, Mikasa passes Eren the device and puts it back in his bag. Mikasa inserts the screwdriver into the ignition and turns, the engine comes alive.

“H- How did you do that?” Armin stutters

“It overrides the original chip in the car. It shuts down the immobiliser system in the car.” Mikasa explains coolly, “Now we can take the car.” She starts driving.

Eren looks out the window and watch the neighbourhood he spent so many years of his life pass him by. He wondered if he’d ever see it again. Eren looks back at Armin, he’s staring out the window looking back at his house that they just past. Eren reaches back and squeezes Armin’s knee. Armin looks over to Eren, their eyes meet, and they share a comforting look. Eren removes his hand and looks back out the window, glancing at Mikasa. She’s completely focused on the road ahead, determined to find Grisha and Carla.


	3. Chapter Three

The sun begins to rise, Armin’s grandfather awakens to a quiet house. He shuffles down to the kitchen; he finds the house is oddly still. He sees a note stuck to the fridge under a magnet. He shuffles closer to the note and reads it. Armin’s grandfather frowns and starts calling out Armin’s name, moving towards Armin’s room. He opens the door to find the bed empty, clothes pulled out from the closet. He then moves to the guest room, he found it also empty no sign of the Jaeger kids. He rushes out the door and down the street to the Jaeger house, banging on the door. There was no answer. Mr. Arlert starts calling out for someone to answer, there was no answer. He runs his hands through his grey hair, he started to panic. Where could his grandson be? His sixteen-year-old grandson just ran away during the night with his friends. He rushes back home to call the police. Two officers come over to the Arlert house and ask Armin’s grandfather a few questions and looking through the house for evidence for where Armin could have gone, taking the note as evidence. The officers reassure the old man that they will find his grandson. They soon leave to start their search for Armin.

Eren opens his eyes, his face squished against the car window from where he slept that night. He straightens up, groaning at the pain from sleeping in an awkward position. He sees the sun just beginning to rise in the early morning sky. He looks over to Mikasa, she hadn’t slept a wink that night, but she doesn’t seem to be affected by the lack of sleep. He looks behind him to see Armin, curled up pressed up against the door, soundly asleep still.

“Do you want me to take over while you sleep?” Eren asks Mikasa.

She glances at Eren and nods her head, pulling the car over to the side of the road. Mikasa gets out of the car and stumbles to the other side of the car while Eren goes to get in the Driver’s side. Mikasa opens passenger door, sitting down and closing the door. Eren starts the car and drives back onto the road, while Mikasa leans against the window, closing her eyes and falling asleep. Eren continues driving, they are heading straight for where Carla’s last known location, her hunting location. Both Carla and Grisha should be there. He grips the searing wheel with white knuckles. He shook his head, clearing his mind to focus on the road. He wonders when they’ll have to ditch this car, maybe they’ll ditch it when the finish looking around the area. Hopefully, they’ll find Carla and Grisha and won’t need a car.

Eren silently drives down the road, until there was movement in the back seat, Eren glances back to see Armin stretching out the aches and pains from sleeping in the car. “Morning.” Eren says, “Mikasa just got to sleep so we need to keep it down.” He whispers.

Armin hums in response. Eren glances back to see Armin sleepily looking out the window. He really needs to stop looking away from the road. Eren finally sighs when he notices they have reached their destination, they can finally start looking for his parents. He stops the car on the side of the road, a good distance from the area, between some bushes to hide the car. Eren shuts the car off and gets out the car, stretching his legs for the first time since they left their neighbourhood.

Armin gets out after him, yawning and rubs his eyes. “Are we there already?”

“Yeah, I just parked the car away from the town. You know, hiding from the people.” Eren shrugs. “When Mikasa wakes up we’ll go find something to eat, how does that sound?”

Armin nods, “What time is it anyway?”

“Uh-” Eren pulls his phone out, “It’s noon.”

Armin yawns again, “I slept that long and I’m still tired.”

Eren chuckles, “You were never a morning person.”

The two of them hear the passenger side door slam shut. The two boys look over to see Mikasa getting out of the car. “Have we arrived?”

“Yeah,” Eren nods, “We should head into town to eat and have a look around.”

Mikasa nod before quickly stretching and gets back into the car. Eren watches Armin as he gets back into the car, he gets in the driver’s side when Armin closes the back-car door. He turns the screw driver in the ignition and begins driving again. They drive around the town looking for somewhere to stop for food, Mikasa spots a fast food restaurant quickly. The three of them go inside and order their food, sitting in a booth far away from any other customers.

“What should we do first?” Eren asks

“Well, I think we should ask around if anyone has seen Carla and Grisha first. When the sun goes down we’ll check out the scene, where Carla was supposed to be hunting.”

Eren nods along, Armin quietly listen to whatever the two of them are discussing. The talking soon finished and they ate in silence before Mikasa spoke again, “We need to think of what to do if we don’t find them-”

Eren frowns, “We’re going to find them, they have to be here.”

“Eren- Carla has been gone for two weeks, Grisha has been gone for one. I don’t know if we’ll find them, they’re probably long gone.”

Eren grits his teeth, “Fine, if that’s what you think.” Eren quickly finishes his meal then gets up, grabbing Armin’s hand, “Come on, Armin, we’re leaving.”

“Oh!” Is all he’s able to get out before he gets up and Eren pulls him out of the building. Armin looks back to see Mikasa sigh and poke at her remaining food.

Once the two boys are back to the car Eren sits on its hood, dropping the blonde’s hand. Armin stands in front of him, watching Eren carefully. “I’m going to find my parents” Eren begins, “I just know it. I’ll find them, and we can finally go back home, everything will go back to normal. I guess.” Eren mutters the last part to himself.

“I think we’ll find them too, Eren.” Armin reassures him. However, Armin wasn’t sure if they would find Eren’s parents, they have been gone quite some time. Armin wouldn’t tell him that though, he didn’t want Eren to give up.

“I hope we do.” Eren looks up to Armin and gives him a small smile. He pushes off the car hood, “Ah, I guess we should start looking around for my parents. We’ll meet Mikasa here when the sun goes down.” He drapes an arm over Armin’s shoulders.

The two of them walk down the street, Eren keeps his arm around Armin’s shoulder as they walk. Occasionally, Eren stops to ask a stranger they pass if they have seen Carla or Grisha, showing them a picture of the two of them. Everyone they ask didn’t seem to know anything about them. It starts to frustrate Eren.

“Don’t worry, someone will know something about what happened to them.” Armin says as he reaches his arm around Eren’s waist and rubs his side.

Eren looks at Armin and gives him a small smile, “Yeah, we’ll find something.”

The two boys finally find a motel. Eren smiles brightly, “They needed to stay somewhere, they might have stayed here!” Eren lets his arm slip from Armin’s shoulders and quickens his pace towards the motel.

They walk into the reception, there’s an old man standing behind a counter, looking through a book. He looks up at the two boys, “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I believe that a man and woman might have come through here.” Eren pulls his phone out and shows the old man the picture of Carla and Grisha.

“Oh yes! The woman came through two weeks ago and the man came searching for her last week.” The old man nods.

“Are they still here?” Eren’s eyes widen moving towards the old man.

“Well the woman still has a room rented out, the man paid to keep it rented out. I haven’t seen either of them though.” The old man shrugs.

Eren looks at Armin before continuing, “What room have they rented out?”

“I’m sorry I can’t give out private information about my customers.” He shakes his head.

Armin gently places a hand on Eren’s shoulder, trying to calm him down. Eren takes in a deep breath, he digs into his pocket and pulls out a few bills. He smacks the bills on the counter. “Does this change your mind?”

The old man takes the money from Eren, counting the amount he handed over. “She rented out room twenty-three.”

Eren nods and turns around, walking up to Armin, “Let’s find Mikasa.”

Armin nods, following Eren out of the building. Eren calls Mikasa and starts walking past all the motel rooms, looking for the room rented by his mother.

“Hello?” Mikasa answers her phone.

“I found the motel room mum was renting.” Eren says bluntly

“Oh? Where are you?”

Eren proceeds to tell her where the they can be found, and which room Carla was renting. She hangs up, rushing over to the motel. They wait for Mikasa, silently. The boys see Mikasa rushing her way over to them, she waves to them and Eren waves back. Mikasa touches the door, reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a card. Eren faces away from her to watch for anyone that could see them, while Armin watches what Mikasa does.

Mikasa inserts the edge of the card into the space between the door and the frame, just above the door knob. Mikasa continues to wiggle the card down and deeper into the space. She begins to press the card away from the knob, badly bending the card in the process. She leans on the door, pressing her weight on the door. It opens and Mikasa stumbles in, she glances back and gestures for Armin to follow her into the motel room. Armin grabs Eren’s arm and pulls him into the room behind Mikasa. The room looked like every other motel room, there was Carla’s bags tucked into the corner of the room, close to the bed. Eren walks over to her bags, dropping to his knees in front of the bag. He begins rummaging through the bags. Nothing seemed out of place, they were full of Cala’s clothes and hunting supplies. Mikasa walks over to the table in the room, a few books and papers are scattered over it. She sits down and begins to shuffle through the papers. Armin stands behind her, looking at the papers she reads.

Mikasa uses her foot to shove the chair next to her out and pats it, gesturing for Armin to sit down. The blonde sits next to Mikasa and starts looking through some papers. The papers where records of suspicious deaths in the area.

_A-107468_

_DECEASED: Austin Thorne SEX: Male AGE: 32_

_DATE AND HOUR OF DEATH: Estimated, 08/07/2016- 20:00_

_DATE AND HOUR OF AUTOPSY: 09/07/2016- 13:00_

_FINAL DIAGNOSIS: The deceased was estimated to be dead for seventeen hours before autopsy. A complete autopsy was carried out. On initial observation of the corpse it was found to be killed through blunt force trauma, strangulation as observed in the swollen lips and tongue. Further evidence of their death being caused by strangulation was their crushed larynx, although there was no bruising found around the deceased’s throat. The only marks present on the body was the scratches made from their own struggle with the assailant, with only their own DNA being found under their finger nails. The chest was crudely carved open with the ribs broken before the heart was cut out, this was observed as being done post-mortem. Therefore, the final diagnosis is that Mr. Thorne was killed through strangulation, although how is currently unknown._

He finished reading the report and shuffled some of the papers around and found some pictures. They made Armin nauseous, they showed a symbol drawn in blood with the victim’s heart sitting in the centre. He tucks the pictures away from his sight and glances over at Mikasa as she reads the records with a straight face, unaffected by it. Without looking up from the paper she gestures for Eren to come over to her. He walks to the table and looks at the paper she’s holding.

“That doesn’t seem like a ghost,” Eren frowns at the paper.

Mikasa shuffles through the paper, “I think Carla started to realise that too.” She passes the papers to Eren. “There’s no deaths in the area that could have created a vengeful spirit and all the deaths don’t seem to be attached to one place or object.”

Eren hums, “What could it be then, I can’t think of anything else.”

Mikasa shakes her head, pushing up from the chair. “I don’t know what could possibly be happening but whatever it is- It’s dangerous, we’re in way over our heads.” She gathers up all the papers and tucks them and the books in her arms.

“Well there’s no sign of anyone being here for a while, it seems like mum went missing at the beginning of the week when she got here.” Eren gets up after Mikasa. He grabs Carla’s bags. “I think we should go, look for any more signs of them.”

“We need to look at some of the scenes of the deaths, she would have looked at all of them after reading this.” Mikasa looks down at the papers and books, then moves out of the room.

Eren secures the bags on his shoulders then holds his hand out to Armin, “We’ll head back to the car and wait there until night fall to search around.”

Armin nods and gets up walking out of the room, he felt sick from what he read. He was in a complete daze.

“Hey, are you okay?” Eren stops Armin. Turning Armin around to look at him, holding and rubbing his upper arm with one hand the other holding the bags.

“Yeah- It’s just, those reports are so disturbing.” Armin shrugs.

“I know they can be kind of gross sometimes.” Eren slides his hand between Armin’s shoulder blades and softly pushes him forward towards their car.

The two boys walk quietly behind Mikasa as she blindly walks towards the car, reading the reports found in Carla’s room. She stops in front of the car, frowning at the report, she turns around looking up at the two boys. Eren raises an eyebrow at his sister, questioning her what was wrong.

Mikasa looks back at the report, biting her lip before speaking, “Sulphur was found at every crime scene.”

Eren drops his hand from Armin’s back, “But that could mean-”

Mikasa cuts him off, “Yeah it’s probably- But why? Why here?” She shakes her head.

Eren frowns and wordlessly walks to the car, stuffing the bags in the back seat. He gets into the driver’s side, slamming the door behind him. Mikasa quickly gets into the passenger side, Armin following behind her and getting in the back seat.

Eren starts the car, “Were to first?”

Mikasa tells Eren the location of one of the crime scenes. Armin watches and observes the area as they drive past, his head snaps to look back eyes wide. “Stop, stop the car! I saw something.”

Eren slams on the breaks. Armin throws the door open, scrambling out of the car. The two siblings rush after him. All three of them running down the road, leaving the car abandoned in the middle of the road. Armin stops at the side of the road, pointing off into the trees. The two siblings stop to look at what he’s pointing at, it was their mother’s car. Her car tucked off the side of the road, between the trees. Eren walks to the car, looking into the car. Mikasa runs back to the stolen car getting her trusty wooden wedge and metal rod. She rushes back, pushing Eren away from the car. She copies her action from the previous night, breaking into their mother’s car. Armin hangs back as he watches them. Mikasa gets the car open and begins looking through the car, she pulls herself out with keys in her hand. She shakes her head, stepping out of the way for Eren to have a look himself. As Eren crawls into the car, looking around, Mikasa walks back to Armin.

“Help me get the bags? We need to ditch the stolen car, best take Carla’s with us.” Armin nods at her and the two of them start taking the bags out of the stolen car.

They turn towards Carla’s car and walk towards it. Eren gets out of the car, looking at something in between his fingers, frowning at it. Mikasa drops the bags next to the car, “What is it?”

Eren looks up at her, “It’s sulphur, it was in the car.”

Mikasa grabs his wrist and looks at the yellowish substance between his fingers, “How can you be sure?”

“I just am, it must have-” Eren dusts off his hands on his pants. “I’m going to look around to see if mum’s around here.”

“Eren, if that is sulphur- She’s probably gone.”

Eren walks away looking back at Mikasa over his shoulder, sending her a dirty glare. “I’m going to look around for her.” He looks away and continues.

Mikasa and Armin watch Eren disappear into the trees, before Mikasa turns to Armin. She sighs, “Let’s get these bags in the boot.” Mikasa opens the boot of the car and the two of them stuff the bags in.

“Should we go after him?” Armin asks, looking in the direction Eren walked off in.

Mikasa shakes her head, “No, he’ll come back when he’s ready, just sit in the car.”

Armin nods and gets into the back, leaving the door open. Mikasa walks back up to the stolen car and moves it off the road, leaving it on the side of the road, taking the plates off the car and throws them into the boot of Carla’s car. She then leans on the open door, both watching the trees waiting for Eren to come back. He didn’t come back until the sun went down. The darkness hid him and the sound of the leaves crunching under his feet. At first Mikasa thought the sound was something coming for her and Armin, she had straightening herself and grabbing the knife in her pocket. Would it be useful, she didn’t know. She really needed to start holding a gun on her person for now on. She let her guard down when she saw Eren emerge from the darkness.

“It’s just me.” Eren says bluntly. “I didn’t find anything.” Mikasa walks towards him, he just continues past her. He closes Armin’s door. “She’s not here let’s just go. We need to find Dad.” He moves to the other side of the car, getting into the back seat of the car with Armin.

Mikasa quietly gets into the driver’s side, she starts the car. She stares at the wheel, “We’re going to need help-” Mikasa trails off. Eren doesn’t reply.

She backs the car onto the road and starts driving once again. She knew exactly where they needed to go next.


	4. Chapter Four

They drove in silence. Tension was in the air, confusing Armin. He still didn’t know what was happening, he couldn’t believe what they had told him before they left it was crazy. The supernatural couldn’t really exist right? Right. Monsters existing is crazy. He just hoped that the crazy killer that got those other people didn’t get Carla. But no one of them could hold their breath on that, considering that they had her car and Eren couldn’t find anything about her whereabouts. Armin carefully watched Eren, who sat quietly next to him.

While Eren tries to pretend that he can’t feel Armin watching him. He focused on looking out the window. Occasionally, he would sneak glances at the blonde boy. Eren wondered if Armin was thinking about the loss of his own parents right now.

Eren could remember Armin’s parents, even if they weren’t apart of Armin’s life all that much. They never seemed to care all too much about the blonde, leaving his grandfather to take care of him. Eren remembered the day Armin’s parents left for good. He wondered how the blonde felt watching his parents walk out that door, did he know they had no intention of ever coming back? He remembered the pain that the other boy went through. Insisting they were going to come back for him, they loved him, and they will come back. However, that didn’t happen. The days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months and the months turned to years. He remembered the day Armin accepted that they were never coming back, that they never intended to come back. He could vividly imagine the pain in those beautiful hazel eyes when he softly said to Eren ‘they aren’t coming back- are they?’ Back then Eren didn’t know what to say to the blonde, he was just so angry that they could leave like this and cause him so much pain because they were never coming back. His parents left, and they were never coming back. Now Eren knew a similar pain, his parents were also gone but they were dead. They were going to come back but they were killed, taken from him and Mikasa.

As the night went on, Eren watched Armin become more and more tired out of the corner of his eye. The blonde’s eyes became heavy until he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Eren watches the sleeping boy fall to the side, his head landing on Eren’s shoulder. He smiled at the blonde. Having the other boy with him helped comfort him with the loss of his mother. He just had to hold hope that they would find Grisha and whatever did this to his family and soon things can go back to normal or at least as close to normal as they could. Eren rested his head on the top of Armin’s head. He closes his eyes and lets himself sleep with the other boy resting against him.

The two boys are awoken by Mikasa. The car had stopped, and she was leaning into the back of the car, shaking them. “We’re here- Armin you might want to stay in the car, they don’t like new people.”

Eren raises his head to see the house before them. He knew where they were. He scrambles out of the car, Mikasa follows getting out of the driver’s side. Armin sits in the car, rubbing at his eyes watching the other two as they walk towards the house.

Eren moves towards the neat house, you’d be surprised that this house was the abode of hunters. Even in the darkness, of what must be two o’clock in the morning, the house was pristine and beautiful. How could they keep such a nice house while hunting, maybe they kept it clean by the fact that they were hardly around to live in it. Mikasa knocks on the door and steps back to stand next to Eren, glancing back at the car looking at Armin sleepily watching them. The door opens, revealing a short man with dark hair. He looks up at Eren and Mikasa, then rolls his eyes.

He steps aside to invite them in, “Who’s the blonde in the car?” The short man asks.

“That’s Armin.” Mikasa answers bluntly.

“Oh, the kid Eren always talks about.” Says a voice from behind the short man.

Eren looks at the tall blonde man, he frowns at him, “Please, Erwin, don’t mention that in front of him.” Eren could feel his face heat up.

Erwin laughs, “Go invite him in.”

The short man frowns at Erwin, “We don’t know him. How do we know to trust the brat?”

Erwin shakes his head, “With the amount Eren talks about him I think we know him, Levi.”

Eren turns around and jogs to the car, opening the car door and holding out his hand for Armin. He lazily takes Eren’s hand and lets the other boy pull him into the strange house. The house inside was just as neat and cleans as the outside. The three teens follow behind the adults, being led into a plush looking dining room. Erwin gestures for the teens to sit down at the table. They sit down with Levi, while Erwin walks into the kitchen.

“So why are you here? And where are your parents?” Erwin calls from the kitchen as he puts the kettle on. He leans on the wall watching the teens while the water boils.

“They’re gone- Mum left and never came back, so dad went after her- He never came back either. We tried to look for them but,” Eren took a deep breath, “We think that mum didn’t make it, all of her stuff even the car was abandoned.”

“So, you came to us to see if we knew anything about it.” Levi says bluntly.

“We need help- We found sulphur in Carla’s car.” Mikasa frowns at Levi.

Levi furrows his brows, “Whatever your parents got into, I suggest you brats stay out of it.”

“Why?” Eren snaps at Levi.

Levi glares at him, “It’s dangerous- you’re not ready for whatever they have gotten themselves into.”

Erwin comes back into the room, a tray of delicate tea cups in his hands. He sets the tray down in between everyone, distributing the cups amongst the individuals at the table. The cups of tea didn’t seem to diffuse the tension in the room. Eren and Levi continue to glare at each other, Mikasa’s glare at Levi going unnoticed by the shorter man. Armin picks up his cup and stares at the black liquid, trying to ignore the tension.

Erwin decided to speak up in this tension, “You guys look hungry, would you like something to eat?”

“Yes, that would be nice thank you.” Armin pips up. Erwin nods and gets up. “Can I help?” Armin rushes up, setting his cup down. Erwin nods again and Armin follows behind him, the two blondes leave the room together.

“I need to find out what happened to my parents- I need to kill whatever did this to my family.” Eren grits his teeth, “I’ve been trained for this.”

“Tch- Fine, I’ll help.” Levi looks away from Eren and at frowns at Mikasa.

In the kitchen Armin helps Erwin put together some sandwiches. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Eren has said a lot about you.”

Armin lightly blushes, “He does?” Erwin hums in response, Armin continues, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t heard anything about you.”

Erwin chuckles, “Of course he wouldn’t mention this part of his life- I wonder why he brought you into it all of a sudden.” Erwin looks up and glances at Armin.

“They were going to leave, and I insisted that I go with them.” Armin mutters

Erwin continues what he was doing, “I see why Eren likes you.” They finish preparing the food and bring it out to the dining room and sit it down on the table.

The group sits in silence as they eat and drink their tea. With Levi leaning back in his chair, watching Eren and Mikasa while slowly sipping his tea. When the group finish Levi puts his cup down, “So you want help hunting this thing?” He questions.

“That’s why we’re here” Mikasa says bluntly, obviously annoyed with him.

“We can give you some advice and a few things to help you, but beyond that we can’t do much.” Erwin speaks up

Eren nods, he felt relieved that they were getting help from the two older men. He wasn’t sure they would be able to do it on their own, although he would never admit that. Erwin pushes his cup away from him and gets up, he walks into the sitting room. He looks through a few books before picking one and tucking it under his arm, he then grabs a few other things from a cabinet. He then returns, dropping the book on the table. It had a green cover and was blank, no indications of what the book contained.

Erwin tapped the hard cover, “This has all the information you’ll need.” He then sets the rest on the able, “These are a few other supplies. Such as, holy water and anti-possession charms. What you kids are getting into is dangerous-”

“I know.” Eren cuts him off.

The older blonde ignores Eren and looks directly at the younger blonde, “If you decide to walk this path, there’s no going back to how it was before. If you want to change your mind, best do it now.”

Armin swallows thickly and nods at the older man. He wasn’t going to leave his two friends to deal with whatever’s going on alone, he couldn’t leave Eren.

The older men insisted the teens stayed for the rest of the night. It would be irresponsible for them to let the kids run around at night with all they knew was out there, and what might be hunting them. They had offered the two guest bedrooms to the three teens. Mikasa got a room to herself, while the two boys had to share. Although, they didn’t mind. The room wasn’t the biggest, it was small stuffed with a single double bed. Though the room was small it was very homely, comfortable especially after sleeping two nights in a car. 

Armin sat on the bed while Eren shuts the door, Armin looks up to Eren before speaking, “Can I just ask who they are?”

“Oh, just family. They’re hunters too.” Eren sits next to Armin.

“You’re related to them?” Armin questioned.

“Yeah, well Mikasa is by blood. Levi’s her cousin and Erwin’s family by marriage.” Eren shrugs. Armin nods, he felt like he was slowly learning about a whole different side of Eren he hadn’t known before, after being so close for so long it felt strange. Eren knew everything about him, but Armin didn’t know everything about Eren.

Armin shoved that thought away to focusing on getting ready for bed. It felt nice to finally change their clothes, which all of them hadn’t had time to change since they left Shiganshina.

The two boys lay down on the bed together. Not saying a word, until Eren broke the silence, “Do you ever think about what they could be doing right now?”

Armin looked over at Eren and a small “Huh?” escaping his lips.

“Your parents, I mean.”

Armin bit his lower lip before responding, “I used to, sometimes.”

The two boys drifted into silence. Eren wondered where his father could be right now, his mind then drifted to the thought that maybe he would never find him. Maybe he just disappeared and left him to fend for himself. Would this searching for Grisha never end? Eren closed his eyes and pictured the last time he saw Shiganshina, maybe that was the last time he would see it.

When the teens awoke the light spilling into their respective rooms suggested that it was midday. Erwin and Levi were kind enough to allow the teens to shower and get ready for the next part of their journey, helping them pack whatever it is that they would need for it. The older men ushered the teens out of their house, as they made their way back to Carla’s car Levi called out to them, “If you need more help, you know where we are and how to contact us.”

Erwin then called out, “I trust you three are going to the hunters’ pub? Well when you get there ask for Hanji, they might know more about what’s going on than us.”

Eren and Mikasa nod in response. Mikasa got into the back of the car this time, with Eren climbing into the driver’s side and Armin sitting in the Passenger seat. They backed away from the neat hunters’ house and continue driving. The car was once again quiet as they drove away. Their next stop was the hunters’ pub.


	5. Chapter Five

By the time Eren drove up to the dirty old pub it was already dark. They parked the car and watched the ratty looking excuse for a pub for a few minutes. It was already alive with people walking in and out of it, some of whom seemed drunk as they left. It wouldn’t be the first time Eren and Mikasa had been here, but this was the first time Armin had been anywhere near something so vile. Eren looked over at Armin, he wore a disgusted look on his face.

Eren once again placed a reassuring hand on Armin’s knee, “Don’t worry you’ll be fine, I’m here.”

Armin looked over at him and gave him a small nod. All three of them got out of the car and started walking towards the pub. As the teens got closer Armin leaned closer to Eren, watching a tall gruff man walk past him, “How are we supposed to get in?” Armin whispered.

“Don’t worry, we just need to walk in. No one will say anything here.” Eren placed his hand on Armin’s lower back, sending a glare at some men that watched the blonde as they walked past. The men, however, only went back to their own business when Mikasa gave them her own glare.

They pushed through the door, revealing the interior of the pub. There was a pool table and many old tables with stools. It was surprisingly full for a pub situated in the middle of nowhere. They moved towards the bar, which was being tended to by a girl with light brown hair. She looked so at ease wiping down glasses and serving up beer to the scary looking people, even though she looked to be the same age as the teens. The three of them took their seats at the bar and watch as she quickly slipped a cup of water to a short man, about their age, with a shaved head and pats his shoulder. When she notices the three teens sitting at her bar she smiles at them before making her way over to them.

“How long has it been since I saw you guys last?” The girl said.

“Hello to you too, Sasha.” Eren smiled.

“So, what brings you guys here?”

“Erwin said we should ask for Hanji, they can help us or something.” Eren shrugged.

Sasha hums, quickly pouring a glass of beer and giving it to the man that was waving money at her. “Yeah I can get you Hanji. May I ask what for?”

Mikasa answers this time, “Something happened to Carla and Grisha, we want to find out what.”

Sasha nods and point to a table in the far-right corner of the room. They look over to the corner where a person sat with a long oily mop of brown hair, glasses perched on the tip of their nose. They’re hunched over books and papers, with a half-drunk glass of beer sitting atop of some of the papers.

“Thanks Sasha,” Eren gets up from his stool.

“You two go ahead, I’ll wait here.” Mikasa says to the two boys.

Eren nods at her and grabs Armin’s hand, pulling him through the pub towards the corner Hanji is cooped up in. The two boys take a seat on the other stools at the table with Hanji. They don’t seem to take notice of the boys, they continue pouring over their documents.

“You’re Hanji, right?” Eren leans against the table.

They look up at Eren, pushing their glasses further up their nose. “Who’s asking?”

“I’m Eren Jaeger and this is my friend Armin Arlert.”

“Who’s the girl you came with?” They nod towards Mikasa, who’s sitting at the bar talking with Sasha.

“That’s my sister, Mikasa Ackerman.”

Hanji nods, “Hunters?”

“We were told you could help us, from Erwin and Levi.”

A large smile spreads over their face, “Oh! How are those guys?”

“They’re fine- Can you help us?” Eren frowns.

Hanji nods again, “Yes, yes. What do you need?”

“We were on a hunt and we found evidence of-” Eren leans forwards and whispers to Hanji, “A demon.”

Hanji’s eyes widen with excitement, a slight blush dusting their cheeks. Eren leans back, surprised at Hanji’s reaction. “Oh, really!?” Eren’s brows furrow, “Where?” Hanji shuffles around some papers and shoves a map at Eren, the map is dotted with red mark. Eren points out where his mother was hunting. Hanji nods enthusiastically, they quickly add another mark on the map. They press a finger to their mouth and hum, “I’ll have to check it out for myself then.” Hanji picks up their drink and throws it back, quickly drinking it before stuffing all their belongings into their arms. They pass Eren a slip of paper with a number on it, “Meet me back here in a few days, call me if you find anything else.” Before Eren could say anything else they rush out of the bar.

Eren looks at Armin and shrugs, he gets up and pulls the blonde back towards Mikasa. The two girls are too deep in conversation to notice the two boys coming back over.

“You should come over more often.” Sasha says elbows resting on the bar and her head in her hands.

“I wish I could- But you know how hunting is.” Mikasa reaches over and twirls a lock of the other girl’s hair around her own finger.

Sasha looks into Mikasa’s eyes, “Just promise me you’ll be careful, like double careful- Stay safe and come home to me.” She pleads with the other girl.

“Of course, I will be. I promise.” Mikasa says, although she knows she can’t really promise this. But, she wanted to make Sasha feel better.

Eren clears his throat, “Hanji ran off to check out mum’s hunt, we have to meet up with them later.”

Sasha straightens up at hearing this, “Oh! Well while you wait you can go on another hunt.” She leans over and pulls out a file with a few newspaper clippings and passes it over to Mikasa, “I don’t get to go on hunts often, but I found this, so you guys can take it.”

Mikasa takes the file and looks over the clippings, she nods, “Thanks, Sasha. We’ll look into this hunt.”

Sasha gives Mikasa a small smile and a blush dusts her cheeks, “Thanks, I’ll see you guys later then.” Mikasa nods at her and the three teens get up and walk out of the pub. They get into the car and start it, leaving the pub in their rear-view mirror.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. So, this is the first of the actual hunts. Reminder that the gore/horror opening will have ~~ at the beginning and end. In later hunts there may be gore/horror outside of the ~~, if that bothers anyone just say so and I'll make sure section them off from the rest of the chapter so you don't have to read it (for example I might put at ** before and after). I will also put warnings before chapters that will have gore/horror outside of the ~~.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it. <3

* * *

Eren flipped through the newspaper clippings that Sasha gave them. They all detail mysterious deaths in a hospital. He looked up and watched as they entered the small town that housed the small hospital. The car passed the hospital to see police cars parked out front of the building. Mikasa slowed the car down to get a look at whatever was happening. She glances over at Eren and pulls over. Eren digs into the glove compartment and pulled a box. He shuffles through the cards and pulls out two fake IDs, handing one to Mikasa.

She turns around to Armin, “We don’t have one for you, but we’ll get one soon.”

“Don’t worry we’ll be back soon.” Eren smiles at him and the two get out of the car, leaving the blonde in the back of the car. Armin shuffles over to the other side of the car to look out of the window, watching his friends walk up to the police.

The police officers turn to the two teens walking up to them. Eren and Mikasa flash them the IDs, “What happened here?” Mikasa calmly asks.

“There was another killing last night, but there’s no evidence of who killed him. We don’t anything.” The police officer proceeds to shake his head.

“Of course, you don’t.” Eren mutters under his breath.

Mikasa elbows Eren in the ribs roughly as the officer frowns at him, Mikasa says to the officer, “Where in the hospital did this happen?” The officer tells her where the body was found in the hospital. “Thanks for your help.” She grabs Eren’s upper arm and drags him back to the car, they both climb in and she says, “You can’t be rude when we need them.”

“They don’t know anything that’s going on, they’re useless.” He grumbles.

“Uh- What did they say?” Armin asks.

Mikasa turns around to look at him, “There was another victim-” She pauses and glances at Eren before looking back at the blonde, “We’ll come back tonight to have a look around. Until then we have things to do” She starts up the car and pulls back onto the road.

They pull up to a store Mikasa get out of the car and opens the back door, holding out a hand for Armin. The boy takes her hand and slips out of the car. Eren makes to get out too, but Mikasa shakes her head and pulls the blonde into the store. They come back a while later, Armin looking through a few new fake IDs. He stuffs the cards into his pocket and gets into the car with Mikasa. “Thanks for getting these for me.” Mikasa just nods at Armin.

When the sky began to darken the three of them drive back over to the hospital. They sit and watch the building as the lights begin to be turned off. The three of them get out of the car. Armin watches as the other two open the boot and grab weapons, salt and other supplies. Mikasa walks over to Armin and tucks a gun into his pocket when his eyes widen she puts her hand on his shoulder, “We don’t know what is in there or what could happen, it’s just for safety.” He swallows thickly and nods. Mikasa walks towards the entrance of the hospital, Eren stands beside Armin and rests a hand between his shoulder blades and leads the blonde towards the front doors. They look around and make their way down the dark halls. They look through the hospital until they find the hall the man was killed in.

Eren passes Armin a torch, he switches it on looking around the quiet hospital. Eren and Mikasa keep their hands on the weapons in their pockets as Armin swings the troch back and forth to see the hall better. The light begins to flicker, Armin hits it against his palm and frowns. He looks up at Eren and gives him a questioning look. Eren frowns and glances at Mikasa, who looks between the two boys. Both Eren and Mikasa grab their guns and keep them low as they move forward down the hall. The torch continues to flicker until it just gives out, plunging the group into darkness. The three teens look between each other. They look around as chill proceeds to run through the air and a figure appears at the end of the hall. Eren and Mikasa raise their weapons, pointing them at the figure. It takes glitchy steps towards the group.

“Ghost.” Mikasa mutters to the other two.

Eren begins to back up, extending his arm back and pushing Armin back towards the exit. Mikasa stands in the hall looking at the spirit coming towards her. Mikasa gets a good look at the ghost’s face, a woman. A nurse. Mikasa grabs an iron knife with her other hand, throwing it at the woman, it passes through her and she disappears in a cloud of smoke. She rushes to grab the knife and runs to the two boys grabbing them by the wrists and dragging them to the exit.

They get back into the car, Armin’s eyes are wide, “What was that?”

“That was a ghost and we’ve got some research to do about who they are.” Mikasa says nonchalantly.

“You were telling the truth back home. Then there are monsters out there and- and you guys, your family hunts them.”

“Yeah- and we gotta kill this one.” Eren says while glancing back at Armin.

Armin looks out the window as they drive down the road. When the sky turns orange, they make their way to the local library. The teens are the first ones there, an old woman lets them into the building. Armin walks in front of the others, weaving through the book shelves. The siblings following closely behind him, watching Armin curiously. He stops and pulls out books, flicking through them. Tucking them in his arms, piling the books up. He cautiously looks around before opening his bag and stuffing them inside. “Okay, what now? We try to find their identity?” he looks at the two brunettes.

Mikasa is frowning at him, “I didn’t raise you to steal.” She states

He shrugs, “considering everything else we’ve done I don’t think taking a few library books is bad.” She hums in response They follow him to the computers. Armin pulls out a chair and sits down. Eren and Mikasa drag chairs over to sit behind him and watch him. Armin quickly types and chicks away on the computer. He picks a book out of his bag and flips through the book, skimming the pages.

Mikasa leans over and whispers, “Ghosts are usually born out of violent deaths.”

Armin hums in response and nods. He continues to type away at the computer, Eren places a hand on the boy’s shoulder and skims over what Armin is reading. The blonde points to the screen, pressing a finger to it. “Do you think this could be it?” Armin asks, glancing at Mikasa.

Mikasa skims over the screen, “Jane Weaver- Yeah, this seems to be it.” She nods.

Armin begins reading aloud to his two friends, “Jane Weaver- A nurse at the local hospital. Whenever she worked the nightshift an unusual amount of her patients would die. She confessed to killing some of the patients to a co-worker, this prompted an investigation by the hospital to see if the allegations from said co-worker were true. Some of her patients’ bodies were exhumed and found to have been poisoned with a lethal dose of morphine. When Weaver caught onto her appending arrest she committed suicide in the hospital basement.”  He paused and glanced at the two other teens, both nodded their head.

“Does it say where she was buried?” Eren asks. Armin makes a few clicks before shaking his head. Eren makes a dramatic sigh, “Is it ever easy?” Armin just raises a questioning eyebrow and Eren just shakes his head.

“Could you find any relatives?” Mikasa asks

Armin looks back at the computer and begins his search, he nods, “Yeah- Yeah, she has a sister in the area- Anna Weaver.” Armin makes a few more clicks then closes all the windows and walks over to the printer, grabbing the papers it spat out. Looking over the documents he walks over to the others. Without looking up he picks his full bag up and slings it over his shoulder. He passes the papers over to Mikasa, she looks over them. The three of them get up and rush out of the library, with Armin hiding his bag from the librarian’s view.

They get into the car and drive away from the building. While Mikasa drives, Eren watches Armin read through the stolen books. “You alright?” He asks

Armin look up at him, “Yeah. I just- Want to understand what’s going on. This world, there’s so much I don’t know.”

Eren reaches over to place a reassuring hand on Armin’s knee. Armin looks down at the books and continues reading, Eren uses his thumb to rub circles on Armin’s knee. Mikasa pulls up to the address of the sister, Armin quickly shuts the book and jumps out. He looks back in, “Can I do this one on my own?” Mikasa quickly nods.

He shut the door and jogs up to the door, ringing the bell. An older blonde woman answers the door, “Hello, Mrs. Weaver. I’m a journalist from the world newspaper. I would like to ask a few questions about your late sister Jane.”

She sighs, “Fine, Fine- Just make it quick.” She steps aside letting him into her house.

Eren watches Armin step into the house he frowns, “Should we have let him go in alone?”

Mikasa looks back at him, “He’ll be fine, he’s only asking a few questions.”

“What about if she’s as crazy as her sister!”

Mikasa just shakes her head and leans back in her chair. Eren nervously looks out the back-car window, watching and waiting for Armin to come out of the house. When he sees the blonde walking out of the house Eren jumps out of the car and meets him half way, “What did you find?”

“She was cremated- So what do we do now?” Armin says.

Mikasa walks up behind the two boys, “To kill a ghost we need to salt and burn the bones- but with no bones to salt and burn.” Mikasa pauses.

“We need to find another way.” Armin finishes.

Eren nods, “What should we do?”

All three of them pause, looking at the ground. Armin looks back up at the other two, “We could trap her down there- in the hospital I mean.” He bites his lip.

Back on the road, the three are ready for what’s to come. They pull up to the hospital. Eren slings a duffel bag over his shoulder. Mikasa passes Armin a torch and nods at him. The three of them split up, the two siblings go down stairs and Armin going down the hall.

Armin holds the flash light out in front of him. He takes a deep breath as he moves down the hall. The light begins to flicker and a chill proceeds to roll down his spine. He stands still waiting. When the woman appears in front of him. He turns on his heal and begins running down the hall. She walked after him, glitchy and unreal. She was hardly taking steps forward but quickly making her way down the hospital hall. She flicks her wrist and all the doors are flung open, another flick of her wrist causes all the windows lining the walls to smash. Armin flings his arms over his face. Glass cutting into his skin, beads of blood seeping out of the fresh wounds. Her pace quickens, grabbing hold of Armin’s shoulder. She flings him against the wall, he slides down onto the ground. Armin looks up to the woman when Mikasa steps into the hall, she shoots the rock salt filled shot gun. The rock salt sprays through her, leaving large holes and causes her to disappear. Mikasa reaches over grabbing Armin’s wrist pulling him up and down the hall.

Armin stumbling behind her as they make their way down to the basement. “We’ve pissed her off, she’ll be back soon enough. Just keep moving!” She shouts.

They run down the stairs to the basement. They rush into an open room. Faced with a wall Mikasa pushes Armin behind her back. As the woman appears at the end of the stairs she moves slowly to the open room. The two watch as she gets closer. Mikasa raises Her shotgun as she steps into the room. Eren steps into the door way, he shouts as he dumps a bag of salt to compete the square boxing in the ghost. The two begin circling the room to the exit while she’s distracted. She turns back to them, more anguished that before. Mikasa throws Armin through the door into Eren’s arms. Mikasa raises her arm as Jane scratches her, she then flings herself out of the door before slamming it shut. Eren lets go of Armin to help Mikasa board up the door and cover all the spaces between the door and its frame. 

The three of them slip out of the hospital as they see police arrive. They get in the car and Eren pull out and away from the building. In the back-seat Armin takes hold of Mikasa’s arm and looks at the scratch. “It doesn’t look too bad, but we’ll need to clean it up and dress it.” Mikasa nods in response.

Eren pulls the car into the motel parking lot. The trio making their way into the motel room they rented, Armin helps Mikasa clean and dress her wound in the bathroom before cleaning his own cuts. When they’re done Eren stands up from the bed, “So back to the pub?” Mikasa nods. They pile into the car once more and start the journey back to the pub.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: graphic violence and content might be triggering~
> 
> (Sorry I forgot to put a warning before the chapter, too busy with university. I'll do better next time. Sorry again)

 

* * *

The car pulls up to the ratty old pub one more and Eren parks the car. They get out and walk into the pub, although the bar isn’t as full as the first time they came. There are only a few people. Hanji sits in the corner of the pub once again, sipping on a beer. They wave the three teens over and they oblige. They sit down next to Hanji. “Okay, so I checked the area.”

“What did you find?” Eren asked

“First, it was really close to some other demon activity!” They point to four red dots positioned in a square.

“Does that mean it could be the same thing?” Armin asks

“Exactly!” They excitedly smile at him, “The killings at these four points are extremely similar, with each place having a symbol painted in the victim’s blood and their heart in the centre.”

“Is it some sort of ritual?” Armin looks over the papers on the table.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t read anything like this before. But I can look-” They pause, “Maybe Erwin and Levi have something on this.”

“Was there anything else?”

“Oh yeah, there were three other hunters around there. They said they were looking into the demon- Kind of weird since there hasn’t been sighs of demons for weeks.” Hanji shrugs.

Armin hums, “Can I take a photo?” Hanji nods and he takes a quick picture of the map. Armin scribbles his and Eren’s numbers down on a napkin, “Uh since we have yours, you should have ours- If you find anything.” Hanji nods and takes the napkin from him.

They get up and walk over to the bar, sitting down. Sasha hops over to them, “How was the hunt?” 

“The hunt was fine.” Mikasa spoke.

Sasha hums, she looks at Armin and smiles, “I don’t think we’ve met yet, I’m Sasha.” She holds her hand out.

Armin takes her hand and shakes it over the bar, “I’m Armin.”

“Oh! You’re Eren’s boy-”

Eren cuts Sasha off, “Ah- Yeah he’s my best friend, from Shiganshina!” He smiles a bit too wide and Armin frowns at him. Sasha just laughs in response.

“Hey, Sasha! Can I get some chips?” The short man sat next to them says.

“Alright, Connie. Oh, you guys haven’t met Connie yet. He’s a good friend of mine, stays here between hunts.” She gestures to the man. She then puts her hands on her hips and moves into the back room behind the bar.

“Hey.” He waves to the three teens.

They each introduce themselves to the other teen. “So how did you get into hunting?” Eren asks

 “Ah, when I was sixteen my whole family was killed by a vamp- It was my first kill as a hunter.” Connie gulps down the beer in his hand.

“Sorry to hear that.” Armin says.

“It’s okay- Now I just hunt to make sure that doesn’t happen to anyone else.” He pauses, “So how about you guys? How did you get into this?”

“Mikasa and I were born into it.” Eren says, “Armin- He only recently got into it by joining us.” Eren looks over at Armin as he nods along with what he’s saying.

“So, you two are like Sasha?” Connie points to Eren and Mikasa.

“Like Sasha?” Armin asks, curiously looking at the other teen.

“Sasha’s parents are hunters and own the bar, she runs things when they aren’t around.” Mikasa speaks up to the others. Armin nods once more.

Sasha walks out with a bowl of chips and puts them in front of Connie, grabbing a few off him and eating them. “You three interested in another case?”

“Yeah- If you don’t mind.” Mikasa says to her.

Sasha smiles and bites her lip before getting out another file and passing it to Mikasa, brushing her fingers over the other girl’s, “I like to keep tabs on all the supernatural shit going on around here.”

Mikasa opens the file and looks through what Sasha put together, she nods and looks up to her, “Thanks again, Sasha. We’ll try not to keep stealing your hunts.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” Pink dusts her cheeks.

“Uh- Thanks again, Sasha.” Eren says, getting up with Armin. He leads the blonde out of the pub with Mikasa trailing behind them, waving at the girl behind the bar. Mikasa gets into the driver’s side while the boys pile into the back seat. Armin pulls out his phone, looking at the picture of the map he took. Eren looks over at his phone, “What are you thinking?”

Armin bites his lip and tilts the phone towards Eren, “Look, all the other dots are random, but these four,” He zooms in on the four points they were looking at, “They seem like a patter- It has to mean something.”

“Don’t worry- Hanji will talk to Erwin and Levi, maybe we’ll go over there too. Whatever we find will help us figure this out.” He bumps his shoulder against Armin’s, “Let’s just get this hunt over with and Hanji will contact us when they find something.”

“Okay- Okay, I trust you.” Armin says. Eren leans over and grabs the file from the passenger seat and passes Armin it. He flips it open and reads the papers inside. “I still don’t want to believe this is all real, but it is.” Armin mutters.

“Yeah and it’s our job to save people from it.” Armin hums at Eren’s response.

The three teens sit in a diner, Armin lowers his phone after he finished reading aloud the most recent news report. Eren grumbles, “What is it with teens and going into abandoned houses. It’s like they want to die.”

Mikasa sends Eren a glare. Armin speaks up, “Well, there was two others with her- We should find them and ask about it.” Armin reaches into his bag and pulls out his laptop

“How long will it take to find them?” Mikasa asks.

“Not too long.” Armin types away on the computer, the other two watch him as he looks through windows on the laptop. “I found something.” He turns the laptop around to show Mikasa. She hums and gets up out of the booth, the boys following close behind.

When they get out of the car Armin tugs on his clothes, “I get that we need to look the part, but I kind of feel bad about it.”

Mikasa steps up to the door and rings the bell. A redheaded girl, about their own age, answers the door. “Hello, Jenny May?” She says professionally to the teen.

“Uh- Yeah?” Jenny sniffles, it was obvious that she had been crying recently.

The trio hold up their fake police IDs, “We just want to ask a few questions.” Eren speaks up from behind Mikasa.

She looks between the three teens, “O-okay.” She a few steps to the side letting them into the house.

They walk in and she follows close behind. They all sit down in the living room. “Can you tell us what happened that night?” Armin asks the redheaded girl.

She looks away and begins to tear up. “W-we went to the old abandoned building. It was supposed to be for fun, just a joke.” She buries her face in her hands. She looks back up rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands, “We were messing around with an Ouija board.” Eren raises an eyebrow, looking at Armin and Mikasa with an ‘I told you so’ look on his face. Armin rolls his eyes, while Mikasa ignores her brother’s antics. The redheaded girl continues, “I know this is going to sound crazy- But, it moved, and we tried to run, it took Emily! I wanted to go back for her.” She clamps a hand over her mouth as she begins to sob.

“What do you mean ‘it’?” Armin asks the girl gently.

“The- the ghost we were talking to. And then Emily was found dead!” She wailed

“Did it give you a name?”

She looks up and wipes the tears of her eyes, “It said its name was Tommy.”

“Thank you, that will be all for now.” Armin says as he gets up, looking to the other two. They get up after the blonde and nod at Jenny.

The trio get back in the car. “So, we start looking for this Tommy?” Eren asks.

“Yeah- We just need Wi-Fi.” Armin leans back into his chair.

Mikasa starts the car and begins to drive towards the local library. When they pull up they begin to walk in to find a quiet place and sit together. Armin begins his search, Eren watching over his shoulder and Mikasa looking at them from across the table.

Eren squeezes Armin’s shoulders. “Tommy Higgins- Seven-year-old boy that was kidnapped a few years ago. A man confessed to kidnapping and murdering him, but his body was never recovered.” Armin reads aloud.

“What do we do now?” Eren asks.

“Check out the abandoned building.” Mikasa says.

The darkness surrounds the trio as they stand outside the building. They duck under the police tape and walk into the house. Switching on their flash lights. “Where should we start?”

“Maybe where the girl’s body was found or where they were playing?” Armin asks.

“I’ll have a look where she was found, you two look in the basement.” Mikasa says.

The boys nod and they split ways. The two of them make their way to the dark basement, making their way down the old stairs. Armin walking closely behind Eren, peeking over his shoulder into the small dank room. The flash lights begin to flicker and Eren looks over his shoulder at Armin. Eren is suddenly flung across the room.

“Eren!” Armin screams and rushes down the stairs after him. He drops to his knees and takes Eren’s face into his hands, “Are you okay?”

Eren places a hand over Armin’s, “I’m fine.” Armin gets up and offers a hand to Eren.

A metal rod goes flying across the room, just above Armin’s head. Eren shoots up and pulls Armin against him, pulling out a shotgun. A small figure appears and Eren shoots rock salt at it, causing him to poof into smoke. “There’s nothing here, let’s go.” They rush up the stairs and through the door. A cold hand grabs hold of Eren’s wrist, yanking him down the stairs. He tumbles down into the basement, the door slamming shut behind Eren. Armin begins to panic, worried about the other boy.

Mikasa cautiously walks down the hallway, towards where Emily’s body was found. Gun out and ready to shoot rock salt at the spirit when needed. She finally comes into the room, dried blood in the middle of the it. Mikasa kneels and scratches at the red on the floor, wrinkling her nose at the stench in there. She turns her head towards the smell. It’s coming from a small metal cabinet. She gets up and begins walking towards it. Mikasa crouches down next to it, dropping her shotgun next to her. Scratching through her bag she picks out an iron crowbar and begins wrenching the cabinet door open. Her hand clamps over her nose and mouth as the strong stench invades her nostrils, completely disgusted by the scent of death in the air.

Eren can hear Armin banging and screaming for him on the other side of the door. The Brunette Scrambles up, holding up the shotgun. Whirling around the room, waiting for the ghost to show itself. All Eren knew was that he needed to get rid of the ghost, so he can get back to the blonde boy waiting for him on the other side of the door. When Eren saw the ghost he pulls the trigger, shooting rock salt at it. With the ghost disappearing he began to make his way up the stairs. Eren starts reassuring the blonde that he was alright. Desperately tugging at the door while Armin tries to push it open. _He needs to get back to him, he needs to be with the other boy_. The spirit steps out of the darkness, flicking his wrist the rod is flung at Eren’s head. It hits him. He falls partially down the stairs, dropping the gun that continues down the stairs to the floor. The ghost grips Eren’s hair, tugging his head back. Eren pats around the ground trying to reach his gun. The boy pulls out a blade, pressing the cold metal to his throat.  

Mikasa uses the crowbar to move the door aside, revealing the dried and shrivelled body of the boy. Tears prickle at the corners of her eyes, sadness consuming her gut when she sees him. A sweet an innocent child taken from the world and now she has to burn what’s left of him, she just couldn’t. She couldn’t destroy the only evidence of what happened to him and let his killer get away. However, Mikasa has no other choice and she grits her teeth and begins looking through her bag once more, pulling out two bottles. She begins salting the body and pouring the flammable liquid over the corpse. She takes a deep breath, stepping back. She needs to do this before she backs out. Mikasa lights the match and throwing it on the body, watching it burn. She rubs at her eyes, watching the boy burn.

The ghost lets go of Eren’s hair, stumbling back down the stairs and drops the knife in is hand. The brunette watches as the boy bursts into flames, letting out a shrill screech as he burns along with his corpse. Armin slams the door open and stumbles down the stairs, grabbing hold of him and pulling Eren up off the ground and close to the blonde. They lock eyes before Eren drapes his arms over Armin’s shoulders and holds the other boy tight against him. They let go of each other and slowly climb up the stairs together to meet Mikasa. The all exchange a look and quietly walk out of the building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I feel this one was super cheesy, sorry. Anyway, I'm always open to feedback. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it. <3


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: graphic violence, content might be triggering~ 
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter <3

 

Mr. Arlert walks into his grandson’s room. It had been months since he and the Jaeger kids ran away. The old man knew his grandson would come back. The old man runs his fingers over the dresser, he opens the window to let the sunlight into the room. The house felt so empty without the blonde boy living with him. Mr. Arlert reminisced on the boy’s younger years. He remembered raising that boy, His parents weren’t around much and when they were they didn’t pay much attention to the blonde. The older man remembers when they finally left for good, they were all they had. Now he lost the last important person in his life, his grandson. He sits down on Armin’s bed and smooths the sheets down with his palm. Today his loss of his grandson hurt even more, it was a sharp aching in his chest, “Happy birthday, son.” The older man mutters as tears prickle in his eyes.

Eren flops onto the bed next to Armin, he looks over at the blonde as he searches for their next hunt. Armin passes his laptop over to Mikasa on the other bed. She takes it and looks over what he found. She nods, “This is good.”

‘We’ve got another case?” Eren asks, looking towards Armin.

“Yeah there’s been a lot of suspicious drownings in a river near here.” Armin says as he takes the laptop back from Mikasa and passes it to Eren.

Eren reads over the articles and hums, “Okay, let’s go.” He gets up, swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. Mikasa and Armin follow suit, packing up and walking to the door behind Eren. Throwing the bags into the trunk, they get in and Eren looked at Armin, “Not how you thought you’d be spending your seventeenth birthday- After the hunt we’ll do something, how about that?”

Armin shrugs, “That’s okay.”

Mikasa starts the car, “We’ll think about that after the hunt.” They drive off towards their new hunt. 

They stop the car at the river, police are all over the place as they pull a bloated body out of the water. Each of the teens look to each other and back to the waters’ edge. They get out of the car and walk towards the tape cutting off the crime scene from the public. Stepping under the line Mikasa walks up to one of the men, showing him her fake ID, “What happened?”

“Someone found his body floating in the river, we suspect suicide.” The man says to her looking over to the body.

“Who’s the victim?” Mikasa asks.

“Barry Kingston.” He looks over to the body. Mikasa hums in response.

While Mikasa talks to the police Armin and Eren squat next to the corpse. Armin flashes a fake ID, “Uh- Can I?” He asks holding a hand out. The officer nods and gives him a pair of rubber gloves. He puts them on and touches a black spot on his drenched clothes. He looks at his fingers. The substance looked like watered down tar, but he assumed that might be because of being submerged in water for a while. Eren takes hold of Armin’s hand and takes a closer look at what he found. He frowns and looks at Armin.

Eren gets up and gets an EMF reader from the car and comes back over. He squats down next to the body and pulls out the reader, trying to look as natural as possible while subtlety waving the device over the corpse. The needle going crazy, the EMF readings going through the roof.

The officer looks at Armin and frowns, “I swear he looks familiar.” He says to the other officer.

“What do you mean?” Mikasa asks.

The officer looks back at her, “He kind of looks like that kid that ran away five months ago in Shiganshina.”

The boys get up, with Armin taking the gloves off, and walk over to Mikasa and gesture to her for them to leave. She thanks the officer and follows the boys to the car.

“Armin found some Ectoplasm on the victim’s clothes and the EMF was going through the roof. So, we’re dealing with a really angry spirit.” Eren says as they get back in the vehicle.  

“We need to be more careful.” Mikasa says gripping the steering wheel.

“Of course, this thing is pissed, we’ll be careful.” Eren says.

Mikasa looks back at Eren and Armin, “That’s not what I mean. We should have seen this coming, but I think Armin’s grandfather reported Armin missing- we don’t want to get into trouble.”

“I thought the note would help him not freak out.” Armin rubs his hands over his face.

“You couldn’t have known better. Anyway, leaving the note was better that thinking you just went missing.” Eren reassures the blonde.

“We need to get this job over and done with before someone realises who you are- Then we should lay low and have a look at the report on you.” Mikasa says as she starts up the car.

They pull up to a local bar, walking in to start asking around. They each sit down at the bar. The bartender walks up to the three teens, “What can I get you?”

“You hear about the drowning recently?” Eren responds.

He frowns, “Yeah, what of it?”

“What do you think happened?” Mikasa speaks up.

The bartender looks at her, “I don’t know they said it must have been a suicide.” He shrugs.

“What do you think?” Mikasa asks coolly.

“Well, I don’t usually indulge this kind of gossip. But, you know what people talk about.” He shook his head.

“What do they say?” Armin asks.

The bartender leans in closer to the trio, “They say that a woman drowned out there long ago and now she drowns any man who goes out to that river.”

“Really?” Eren asks.

“Yeah but come on! It’s just a silly ghost story.” He shakes his head. Someone waved the bartender over and he left the three teens to look amongst each other.

Armin gets up from the bar stool he sat on, “We’ve got research to do.”

The other two nod and follow him out of the bar, making their way to a local library. He sits down at a computer With Mikasa and Eren standing behind him watching him look through files and reports, “I think I found something.” He begins reading aloud, “Anna Wilkins- In the late eighteen-hundreds her husband, John Wilkins, found love letters written by his wife to another woman, he proceeded to drown Mrs. Wilkins in the river behind their house.”

“So, Anna is drowning the men as revenge?” Eren asks.

“Probably.” Mikasa replies. “Fist, does she have a burial site?”

Making a few more clicks he replies, “Yeah.” He points to the screen, “She was buried in their backyard.”

Eren nods, “Should we salt and burn her now?”

Mikasa nods, “First let’s check out the river, make sure it’s her doing this. Since the grave and the river are close enough we can do this quickly.”

“Good, an in and out job.” Eren sighs.

The only light source for the three of them is the full moon in the night sky as they walk down to the dock. They stand in a triangle talking lowly to each other, “Do you think she’ll show up?” Armin asks, standing close to the edge of the dock.

“Don’t worry, we just need to wait.” Mikasa says.

A chill passes through the night air and the trio turn towards the inky water. A mist begins covering the water’s surface. They watch as a figure steps out of the fog and walks across the river towards them.

“Can you see her face?” Eren asks Mikasa. She shakes her head and continues to watch her move towards the teens.

She stops and locks eyes with the trio before continuing forward at a quickened pace. Mikasa looks at the boys, “I think we’ve gotten our confirmation, let’s go.” She breaths out, turning away from the spirit.

“Yeah, I think it’s time to go.” Armin nods and turns away from the woman descending on them.

Armin feels cold hands grabbing him. Eren shouts as he grabs hold of Armin’s wrist, which is pulled free from his grip when the ghost throws the blonde into the icy water. She begins to pull the boy deep into the dark water. “Salt and burn that bitch.” Eren says as he pulls off his jacket and dives into the water after Armin.

Mikasa didn’t have to be told twice as she races to the car, pulling out a shovel and all the gear she needed. She races over to where the body had been buried.  She hopes they can hold out until she can unearth her. _Just hold on_ , Mikasa thought, _just hold on for as long as you can_.

Armin is dragged deeper and deeper into the river, he can’t see through the darkness of the water. He holds his breath. _How long did he have until he just had to take a breath?_ He begins kicking his legs trying to resurface, all in vain as her grip on him is tight and she keeps him under the water. His lungs scream for air, he tries to hold himself back from taking in a breath.

Eren claws through the depths of the river, searching for the blonde without his sight. _He has to find the other boy, there is no other choice, he has to find him_. When his lungs begin to burn he resurfaces and looks to Mikasa as she digs into the earth as fast as possible. He dives beneath the water once more, reaching out in hopes to feel Armin in the water. He grits his teeth against the cold as he continues his search. He keeps going in deeper into the water before resurfacing once more to take a breath. Desperately he begins looking under the water, hoping he isn’t too late. The more he has to resurface the harder he searches, _because if he was running out of breath than Armin was running out of time_.  

Armin looks to the surface of the water, his eyes become heavy as his body takes an involuntary breath in. He tries to ignore the burning sensation filling his chest and stomach, like it was fire pouring into his body and not in fact cold water. With his weakened vision he sees a sold shape appear, wrapping its arms around him and begin tugging him against the hold of the spirit. The shape pulls helplessly, its grip like iron against him, their fingers digging into his limp body.

Mikasa almost screams when she finally finds the bones of Anna. Relieved that they don’t have to keep waiting for her to kill the ghost. _They will be safe_ , she hoped. Quickly revealing the rest of the remains, she climbs out of the hole in the ground. Covering the body in salt and flammable liquid she throws a match on it, she doesn’t stick around to watch it burn as she runs back down to the river. Dropping to her knees at the edge of the dock watching the water as Eren resurfaces from the dark watery depths of the lake with the blonde in his arms. She splashes her hand in the water calling Eren over to her. He gets to the edge of the dock and she takes Armin from him, pulling the boy close to her and away from the water. She lets out a strangled cry when she sees his pale face. Holding the boy close to her. Eren pulls himself out of the water and crawls over to Mikasa and Armin. When the blonde begun coughing up the river water both Eren and Mikasa let out a breath of relief, thankful that the boy was alright. Mikasa lets Eren pull Armin away from her and into his own lap, holding him close brushing his fingers through his soaked blonde locks. Armin opens his eyes, Eren takes Armin’s face into his hands and just stares into his beautiful eyes. His heart fills with warmth and he had to hold himself back from crashing his lips against the blonde’s right then and there. He couldn’t do that not with the life they both led now. So, Eren let himself stroke the blonde’s cheeks while maintaining eye contact with him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was re-watching some old Supernatural episodes while writing this (Season 1 episode 3, if you couldn't tell) and all I could think of was 'I don't care how i have to drown Armin' (So I can have Eren save him and carry him out of the water). Anyway, I hope I didn't force it too much.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: graphic violence, content might be triggering~
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter <3

 

Mikasa and Armin hover over his laptop at the table, food untouched on either side of the device. They look at the missing persons database, reading the information on himself. “Do you think this will be a major issue?” Armin asks Mikasa.

She shakes her head, “as long as we’re careful we’ll be fine.” 

“Well, have we finished laying low now?” Eren asks from across the table.

 Mikasa hums, “It should be safe now, we can go on another hunt soon- I put together a file.” Mikasa pulls out a bundle of newspaper clippings, putting them on the table between the three of them.

“What’s this?” Eren touches the paper, pushing them aside to look at the text on them.

“There’s been numerous crashes on the highway, killing every one of the people in the vehicles- Even if the crash shouldn’t have been fatal.” Mikasa explains to the two boys.

Eren nods, “okay, let’s go.” They all a agree and shovel down their food to leave as soon as possible.

They look out the window at the building in front of them. They look between themselves and get out of the car. Walking up to the man sitting at the front desk, flashing their fake IDs. He nods his head, “It’s just in that way.”

The three teens nod and move down the hall to the crashed car. Eren pulls out an EMF reader, waving it over the wreckage. The reader buzzes showing, looking over at Mikasa. There had been a spirit in and around the car.

“Looks like we’re dealing with another ghost.” Mikasa says.

“Whoever it is must have died on the road?” Armin asks.

“Yeah, that’s a good start, we’ll just have to do some research on the road.” Eren says, stuffing the reader back into his pocket.

Mikasa nods, giving the wreck one more looks over. “I think we should head back to the motel.”

Eren places his hand on Armin’s lower back and the three of them walk out together.

Back at the motel Armin sits cross legged on the bed with Eren sitting in front of him. He scrolls though pages and types on the laptop, looking through death records for the road. Armin hums. “You found something?” Eren says scooting closer to the blonde.

“There’s been a lot of deaths on the road- I’m just sorting through all of them, find when the ghost started killing.” Armin says, brows furrowed.

Eren reaches over and places a hand on Armin’s knee, rubbing circles with his thumb. “If you need a break-”

Armin cuts him off, “No, no. I’ll be fine.” He places his hand over Eren’s and gives it a light squeeze. Armin leaves his hand over Eren’s as he continues his search through the database, looking through all the horrendous crashes. Armin pauses, “I think I found it- This one predates all the supernatural deaths on the road.”

Mikasa looks over at the two boys from where she sits, cleaning her guns at the table. “What does it say?”

Armin gets up, Eren’s hand slipping off his knee and falling onto the bed. The blonde walks over to the table, sitting down next to Mikasa. He places the laptop in front of her and she reads over what he found, she nods. “Can you find where he was buried?”

Armin pulls the laptop back over to him, with a few clicks he finds what he’s looking for and pushes the laptop back over to her. She looks over it, “Lets go.” The three teens get up and walk out the motel door.

Armin stands over the grave, shining a torch light over it as Mikasa and Eren dig together. When they hit the coffin Mikasa hops out of the grave and Eren uses the shovel to break open the coffin. When he’s finished smashing the wooden lid open he hops out of the hole to stand with the other two. Armin and Mikasa cover the corpse in salt and flammable liquid, then Eren lights a match and throws it on the body. The three teens watch the flames consume the contents of the coffin.

 

Eren begins shaking Armin awake as Mikasa packs up the motel room. When Armin opens his eyes to look at Eren sleepily the other boy runs a hand through his blonde hair. “Come on, Armin, it’s time to get up.” Armin hums in response.

The three teens go down to a diner after packing up. They sit in a booth together, each silently eating. Armin’s brows furrow while reading the news on his laptop. “What’s wrong?” Mikasa says from across the table.

“There was another crash last night.” Armin says staring at the screen 

“We can’t save everyone. Don’t worry, we salt and burnt the body the ghost’s gone now.” Eren places his hand in between Armin’s shoulder blades and rubs his back softly, trying to comfort the blonde boy.

“No, that’s not it- The crash happened after we burnt the body.” Armin looks at Eren as he pauses his movements.

“It’s not over, we missed something.” Mikasa states and Armin nods in agreement.

“Then what do we do?” Armin asks looking between the other two teens.

“His soul must be attached to something else.” Eren says,

Armin looks at Eren, “But, what?”

Mikasa sighs, “We just have to do more research, find out what his soul is attached to.” She gets up and squeezes into the booth next to Armin to look over the laptop.

Armin begins his research, Mikasa watching over him. They stop and look at each other when they found what he could be attached to. “There’s a memorial for him on the road, a family member left part of his wrecked car there.” They get up and place some cash on the table before leaving.

When darkness covers the area the three teens get ready to finally finish this hunt. They pile into the car, Mikasa starts the vehicle. They begin their journey down the road. The teens are quiet as they watch the road, or what they could see of the road provided by the headlights. A man walks down the road watching the car pass him. Mikasa frowns, “Looks like we found our ghost.”

Eren reaches into the back seat and grabs a shot gun full of salt. Each of them on high alert as they drive towards their destination. Mikasa frowns when the same grey man stands in the middle of the road, staring them down. _Whatever this ghost wants it’s not fucking with her_. She slams on the accelerator hitting the ghost and he disappears into a puff of dark grey smoke. Mikasa smirks, a small victory, _the supernatural things of the world really needed to learn to not mess with her_.  

The angered spirit appears once more, inside the car in the back seat next to Armin. Eren turns around, “Get down.” He yells. _Fuck this_ , he aims his gun. He hopes that the memorial wasn’t far away as he didn’t like shooting off shots inside the car especially so close to the blonde.

Panicked Armin bends down, tucks his head between his knees and uses his hands to cover his ears. Eren pulls the trigger and hits the ghost. The rock salt goes through the spirit and shatters the back window. Mikasa grits her teeth, _sorry for this guys but hold on_ , she thinks to herself before swerving and slams on the breaks, each of them jerking violently forward in the sudden stop. Mikasa throws the door open and jumps out the car. She was determined to destroy this thing to get the angry spirit off their asses. The two boys follow her to the side of the road. Mikasa drops to her knees and tosses aside the flowers, revealing the small twisted metal. Eren passes her a bottle and a container of salt. She dups the contents of the containers on it. She jumps back and throws a match on it. They watch the flames burn the metal, consuming the flowers and memorial.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: graphic violence, content might be triggering~
> 
> Exams are coming up at my university so the next few chapters might come out a little late. On that note, I thought I might try uploading two chapters a week during the holidays <3

 

Eren slides into the seat next to Armin and places Armin’s laptop onto the table to show both the blonde and Mikasa. “So, I found us a new hunt.” Eren points out the article he found, “I want to check this one out.”

Mikasa nods, “We’ll check it out.” She pushes the laptop shut and away from her. She gets up from her seat.

Armin smiles at Eren and follows Mikasa, taking his laptop with him. The tree teens pack up their stuff in the motel room.

The three teens stand over a grey body as a man walks in, clad in a white lab coat. “I don’t know what to tell you, officers. There were cookie cutter perfect holes in all of her organs, in various sizes.” He shrugs, “It’s like I’ve never seen before- a total medical anomaly.”

The teens look between each other. “Thanks, doctor.” Mikasa says. The three of them and walk out of the building together.

“What could have done this?” Armin asks.

“I think we need to check the crime scene.” Eren says.

They rip the tape away from the door and Mikasa works on opening the door while Eren and Armin stand watch. The door swings open and the teens walk into the room. There’s a deep red stain on the floor. Mikasa eyes the red on the floor, “Search for anything strange.”

The three split up and begin searching the apartment. Mikasa move furniture and look behind them, Armin moves the couch cushions. Eren looks under the sink and finds a small bag. He straightens up and holds the bag up to the apartment.

“Witches.” Mikasa says.

“Witches.” Eren echoes.

Armin hums, “So what did we find?” He asks.

“It was a hex bag, magic.” Mikasa replies, “Someone used it to kill that woman, we need to find them and stop it.”

The three teens walk out of the building and towards the vehicle. When they get in the car Armin digs through his bag, “I need to go to the library.”

“I’ll take him while you check the next of kin.” Eren says.

Mikasa looks at the two of them through the rear-view mirror, she nods at them, “it’s just down the street.”

They get out of the car and Mikasa drives away. Armin links his arm around Eren’s and holds his upper arm as they walk. Eren smiles looking down at Armin, he felt so normal walking with the blonde like this once more. He wished it could be like this all the time, they could have a normal life. No more hunting, no more danger. Just them and a normal life. However, that’s not what they had, so he took what he could and enjoyed the feeling of the blonde beside him. The two boys walk up the steps together. Eren pushes the doors open while Armin rests his head against the other boy’s shoulder. “What are we looking for?” Eren asks.

“I was hoping we could find something on witchcraft, help us find whoever’s doing this.” Eren nods at Armin’s words. The two of them walk deep into the library, looking at books together.

Mikasa knocks on a door and waits. She hears the door unlock, when the door opens she sees a tall man standing in the door way. “Hello, I would like to ask you a few questions.” She shows him her fake ID. He looks at the ID and nods, stepping aside letting Mikasa in. She looks around and then back at the man, “Your sister died recently. I just wanted to know if you could tell me anything about it.”

He frowns, “I don’t know. I just found her in a pool of her own blood.” He grits his teeth, tears prickling his eyes.

“I understand, but I was hoping you could tell me if someone would want to do this to her?” Mikasa asks.

“Why would someone want to hurt her like this?” He pauses and squeezes his eyes shut, taking a deep breath. “No one would want to do this, she was a good kid.” He rubs his eyes with the heal of his palms.

“You sure? Nobody that had a grudge, or maybe an ex-partner?”

“No, nothing like that- She was just a broke university student.”

Mikasa frowns, “Thank-you for your time.” She turns on her heal and walks out the door. She continues to the car, wondering why the witch would kill her if she had no supposed enemies. Once she got to the library she would do research with the boys.

Mikasa looks through the aisles of bookshelves in search of the boys. She finds them curled up with each other pouring over books in the far corner together. The brunette smiles softly to herself looking at them. Turning on her heal, quietly, she walks away to do her research on her own and leave the boys alone.

Eren gets up and stretches as Armin asks, “Huh, so, witches get their power from demons. Could we use this as a clue about what’s happening?” Armin stuff the books into his bag, deciding they might need them later.

“Yeah, I guess.” Eren responds, he couldn’t help but wonder if they could use this hunt to find the demon that gave the witch their power. _Then_ , he thought, _we might be able to find dad and sort this all out_. Grisha will know what to do, _he can help them_. They begin to walk towards the entrance of the library when they spot Mikasa on a computer. The boys sit down beside her, “What have you found?” Eren asks.

“The victim is clean. Nothing that would warrant some witch’s wrath.” Mikasa states coolly.

“I guess it’s time to go.” Eren says and Mikasa nods.

 

They walk into apartment building, flashing their IDs. The officers let Them into the apartment. Mikasa look to one of the officers, “What happened?”

“The victim shat his intestines out.” He laughed.

Eren and Armin look through the apartment. Checking between couch cushions, looking under and around furniture. While Mikasa talks to the officers. Armin pulls a small brown bag out from behind the TV stand, he moves towards Eren. The blonde bumps him with his shoulder, showing the bag to Eren. He takes it and flashes it to Mikasa.

She sees Eren show her the bag, and she looks back at the officer, “Thank you for your help.” The officer hums in response, and she moves over to the two boys and gestures with her head for them to leave. The boys follow behind Mikasa as she walks out of the apartment.

“Who wants to bet this guy is squeaky clean.” Eren says as they get into the car.

Mikasa hums, “There’s something weird happen.”

“Maybe there’s something connecting them?” Armin asks. Mikasa looks back at him and nods. He takes out his laptop and begins his search. Eren watches Armin look. “They shared a cleaner.” Armin states, “She would have access to both of their apartments.”

“Good job, Armin.” Eren says, wrapping an arm around the blonde’s shoulders and pulls him close. The other boy’s cheeks tinge pink and he looks away from Eren, who just couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from him. Armin takes a few breaths and focuses, telling Mikasa the address to find the cleaner.

They pull up to a building and the teens look up at it. Each of them gets out of the vehicle and walk up to it. They cautiously walk into it. Mikasa works on the door, she slowly opens the door and they move into the apartment. The woman is kneeling at a small table, blood smeared across the table. She whips around when she hears the footsteps, brandishing her ritual knife. The witch begins swinging it around, trying to slash the teens. Mikasa steps in front of the boys and doges the knife. Mikasa gives a swift kick to the witch, she lands on the floor. Mikasa takes a fist full of her hair and yanks her head up.

“Why are you doing this?” Mikasa asks as the boys look around.

“Oh, you know just an offering. A gift, really.”

Mikasa glares at her, “Would you like to tell me who for?” If they could find the demon she sold her soul to they could track it down to figure out more information on what the hell is going on. Finally, they could find Grisha. He will be able to fix this, Eren was sure of that.

“I’ll never tell you.” She hisses. Of course, the witch would be tight lipped. Loyal to the demon, _typical._

Mikasa smacks her head onto the ground, “Fine we’ll find the Demon you work for.”

Armin flicks through a large leather-bound book, “I think I found something!” He calls. Eren rushes over and nods that he had indeed found the demon’s name that the witch prays to. This made the witch useless, they have the information they needed. Now to get rid of her at last.

She looks from the boys back to the witch. Eren walks over to the girls, picking up the ritual knife, “We got to get rid of her. She isn’t human anymore.” Eren looks at the knife in his hand, killing witches was always hard, they were more human than anything else they hunted. However, they couldn’t let her go because she would just kill again. He jams the knife into her throat. The witch lets out a gargled scream and goes limp under Mikasa’s grip. “We need to get rid of the body.” Eren says stiffly taking away from the body.

The two siblings wrap the witch’s corpse as Armin stuffs all the witch’s books on the supernatural into his arms and follows them out of the building. He tosses the books into the back of the car while the other two drag the body and stuff it in the trunk. All three get in and start driving. Mikasa stops the car outside a small forest, Eren and Mikasa get out. They find a suitable spot and start digging the grave, when they’re done they toss the witch into it and begin tossing the dirt on top of her. The siblings pat down the grave and get back into the car, sitting for a moment just meters away from the woman they just killed.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: There's no ~~ this chapter since there's no death intro, but there is some gore~
> 
> Hope you enjoy it <3

Silently the teens sat in the car, not making a sound. The events if the night weighing heavily in their minds. It had to be done, she may have looked human but she wasn't, Eren reassured himself. He had no choice choice, she would have kept killing. He pushes it from his mind. They had a clue, a lead towards finding out what's happening. This could be the breaking point for them. To finally figure out what's going on and then to find Grisha. It'll finally be over.

Eren fishes out his phone and the slip of paper with Hanji's number on it that they had been given so long ago. He punches the number in. Pressing to his ear once he hit the call button, listening to the ringing on the other end. He recites the events of the hunt to them, without feeling his voice, stoney and cold. Once he hangs up he looks over to Mikasa, who's tightly holding onto the steering wheel, "We're going to meet them at the hunters' pub." She gives him a stiff nod and turns the key, the engine roaring back to life. The teens sit in silence as Mikasa pulls back onto the road and begins the travel back to their destination.

They pull up to the pub and walk into the building. It was busy considering the time and place. The teens sit down on the bar stools and Sasha walks up to them with a smile o n her face, "I haven't seen you guys in ages. How are you?"

"We're fine. Where's Hanji?" Mikasa asks the other girl.

Sasha shakes her head, "Sorry, Hanji isn't here. You're welcome to wait for them-" she trails off as she looks to the side and flashes the new person approaching them a smile, "Oh, hey, Jean."

The trio turn around to look at the tall teen with two toned dirty blonde hair coming towards them. He drops down on a stool next to Armin. Eren frowns, "What are you doing here, Jean?" He spits out the other boy's name like it's poison in his mouth.

"Oh, just dropping by." His eyes slide from Eren to the small blonde he's sitting next to, while resting his chin on the palm of his hand which is propped up by his elbow on the bar. "And who's this?"

Armin gives the strange boy a quick smile, looking him over to try and get a better read on him, "I'm Armin."

A smirk stretches across Jeans face, "Oh, so you're the one Eren's always talking about." He says as he tucks a stray hair behind Armin's ear. He could see Eren's face screw up, eyes narrowing and clenching his fists on the surface of the bar, this only encouraged the teen further. "What's wrong, Eren?"

"What is it that you want from us?" The brunette seethed. He would much prefer Jean would back off rather than try to talk to them. However, this seemed to be his unlucky day as the other teen decided that the brunette's reactions were all too funny.

"Can I not want to hang out with old friends?"

Armin frowns, "old friends?"

"Well, you're relatively new to hunting but we were all born into the hunting lifestyle." He says this with an edge in his voice as he gestures to himself, Mikasa, Eren and Sasha. "We met a few years ago and in Hunter time that is a long time, since we don't tend to live very long." He adds a bitter short laugh when he finishes. Jean looks between Eren and Armin, "And that's why I'm so surprised that he's dragged you it this."

The brunette grinds his teeth and spits, "Shut up about stuff you don't understand, Jean." He really wasn't interested in the other teen sticking his nose where it doesn't belong after all he knew this was a dangerous job and regrets pulling Armin into this life, he didn't need someone to point that out to him.

With Eren's reaction Jean knew he hit a soft spot, sure his little crush on his best friend was always a teasing topic but this time he was much more easily annoyed by it. All he knew, and cared about, was It annoyed him. Jean leans over pressing his shoulder against the blonde, "Don't worry, if you need real protection I'm here."

Eren jumps up from his stool, "That's enough, I'm telling you to back off."

Jean had really hit a nerve and that made him smile. He stands up carefully, "And what are you going to do if I don't?" He makes sure Eren saw him looking back to the blonde, who's watching the situation unfold.

The brunette had enough, he was going to show him what would happen. Without further thought, almost in blind rage, he swings his fist. It lands just below Jean's eye. It was like the whole pub paused as the other hunter, looking at the floor, lifted his right hand to his cheek to feel where he was hit. Jean looks back at Eren, glad he was able to get under his skin. He reciprocates the punch with his own. The two boys hitting each other as the rest of the pub watches on, the other hunters laughing and egging on the fight.

"Not my pub!" Sasha yells at the two fighting boys. Armin gives Mikasa a concerned look, which is met with a loose shrug showing her lack of care with the situation.

"Come on, Eren, is that all you got?" Jean taunts. The brunette had enough of this and grabs the other teen by the collar. Lifting him up off the floor slightly, smacking him into a table. The beer bottles are flung off it, glass shattering and the contents sloshing over the floor. Sasha lets out a strangled scream as her hands fly to her scalp and she pulls at her hair.

The two hunters sitting at the table jump up as their beer is spilt over them. Jean scrambles off the surface and backs up, Eren stood his ground staring down the much bulkier men. When the older hunters start swinging at the two teens Mikasa had decided it was finally time for her to step in, she couldn't let these guys hurt her brother even if he was a raging idiot sometimes. She grabs the first guy by the shoulders and thrust her knee up between his legs, he topples over clutching at his crotch. For good measure she gave him a swift kick to the stomach. Mikasa turns to the second man, who throws a punch, it lands but it hardly affects the girl. She quickly beats down the second hunter and turns to the two sheepish boys standing behind her. She gives them a disapproving shake of her head ready to scold her brother for starting another fight, when Hanji walks in.

"What happened here?" They ask, looking to a panicked Sasha, who just rested her head in her hands. Ignoring the other customers Mikasa lead the group to the back of the pub. Once they were settled Hanji spoke up, "So, you found the name of a demon." They state with a large grin on their face.

"Yeah-" Eren paused, "I didn't know demon names could sound so normal."

Armin pulled his bag onto his lap and pulls out a book the other two teens hadn't seen since they left Erewin and Levi's. "According to the book Erwin gave us some demons are fallen angels, the others- tortured human souls."

Hanji nods along enthusiastically, "Exactly! And with their name we can summon them." They run their palms together, excited at the thought of being able to really figure these things out. "There's an abandoned building down the road, we can do it there."

The group get up from their seats and start the short journey to the door, stopping to see Sasha cleaning up the broken glass and beer off the floor. Mikasa lets the others walk ahead of her and moves over to the other girl, "I'm sorry those idiots wreaked your pub-"

Sasha cuts her off, "It's fine, we all know how they are. Just go, they're waiting for you." She gestures to the front door. Mikasa leans forward and gives her a quick peck on the cheek before rushing off, leaving the other girl to clean up the mess.

Once all three teens are in the car they pull out of the pub's parking lot, following behind Hanji's truck. They arrive at a run down house, broken windows and the front door hanging off it's hinges. The group get out and walk through the dying grass that had taken over the yard, the dried tips scratching at their knees as they moved towards the opening of the building. Hanji slings the door open, the rusted metal screeching a threat to break and fall off completely. The group stand in the middle of what must have been a living room so long ago, looking at the paint peaking off the walls. Hanji starts giving out orders, each of them preparing for the upcoming assault. If they're successfully they could be privy to a wealth of knowledge on the enemy. They could put a stop to this, whatever this is.

Each of the teens stood behind Hanji as they knelt on the ground. They use chalk to draw a symbol on the ground of the old house. In the middle of it they place a metal bowl. While chanting the summoning spell they drop in each of the ingredients for it. The charred bone of a crow, two human teeth and a hand full of elder leaves. To finish off the summoning Hanji cuts into their own palm and squeezes their hand shut, letting the blood drip over the contents of the bowl. Now finished Hanji stand up and takes a step back, they look around to take in their surroundings. In the blink of an eye a woman appeared before them. Smirking she flashes the group her full black eyes, signalling her demonic status. The hunters stood their ground as she approached them, "So, what is it that you want?" The demon carefully looks over each member of the group.

"We came to talk." Hanji squared up their shoulders, taking in a deep breath.

The woman looks directly at Eren, "You want to talk to me? After you killed my bitch?" She holds up a single finger and wiggles it around while shaking her head, "And I really liked that one, too." She gives the whole group a over dramatic pout. A grin stretches across her face in a mere second, as if she was never frowning. "Yeah, I don't think so."

Hanji takes out a blade, holding it up defensively. "I think you should reconsider."

The demon laughs cruelly, "What's that going to do, besides hurt my meat suit?"

Hanji lunges forward slicing open the woman's right cheek. With the flick of the demon's wrist they were flung across the room, knife clattering to the ground. Mikasa steps in front of the boys, deciding for herself this was far too dangerous for them to deal with. Eren narrows his eyes at the action and tries to get involved With the fight, only succeeding in his sister roughly pushing him back. The two of them watch her fight the demon, until finally Mikasa gave her a swift kick to the chest and she falls into their trap.

The woman gets up to continue the brawl but is unable to move, almost stopped by an invisable wall. She looks up, seeing the circled pentagram with it's symbols, a devils' trap was painted on the ceiling. She grits her teeth And smiles harshly, "If you let me go I swear I won't rip your heads off when I get out."

Mikasa shakes her head and throws one last blow to her head. She finally lets the boys get involved. The two of them dump the woman on an old metal chair and tightly tie her to it, making sure the rope digs into her wrists and ankles. Hanji comes back inside with a bag in one hand and a jug in the other. The teens watch them get ready, meticulously setting out tools, along with a bag of salt and blessing the water. Armin cringed at how painful all the equipment looked, he wished there was another way. However, they all knew there wasn't all they could hope for was that the innocent human wasn't killed in the process of their interrogation. Hanji walks into the circle and roughly slaps the demon. She groans and lifts her head up, tugging slightly at her restraints.

Hanji swirls the blade playful in their hand, "Are we ready to talk? Or are we going to have some fun?"

"I don't care, all you're going to do is hurt the poor girl's body that I'm possessing." She scoffs.

Hanji splashes the water on the demon in response, "Are we going to talk or not?"

The woman hissed as the holy water burnt her skin, "I swear to the devil when I get out of this I'll kill all of you!" She screams and yanks violently at her restraints.

"You can try." Was all Hanji said as they picked up a small knife and dipped it in the water. They slash at the demon's arms, cutting away at her flesh. Steam rises off of her. The blessed water getting into every wound. Hanji continues to torture their captive, stopping every so often to ask her if she wanted to talk. She bit her tongue and stayed loyal to hell.

Armin just couldn't take it anymore, watching this unfold. They were getting nowhere with the demon and all they were doing was hurting an innocent that they had possessed. He walks out of the house, trying to ignore the cries from inside. Eren watches him leave, he waits for a little while. He gives in and follows the blonde out and into the cool night air. The brunette places a hand on Armin's shoulder, "Are you alright?"

He gives the other boy a quick nod, "It's just horrible what we're doing to the girl in there-" He pauses not sure how to express his disgust for the situation.

"I know, but there isn't any other way. We need to find out what's happening, and this is the only other way." Eren reasoned. He takes a deep breath and pulls Armin into a hug. The blonde wiggled around in the embrace until he was able to wrap his own arms around the other boy. He rests his head against the brunette's chest, focusing on his heart beat instead of the screaming. They stay like that for a few more moments until Eren pulls away, "We should go back inside." He gently caresses Armin's arms.

Together they make their way back inside to see blood dribbling out of the demon's mouth as she laughes, "I can't wait for you to die, I'll make sure to rip you apart in hell."

"Well, I'll see you there then you black eyed bitch." The look on their face made the teens uncomfortable, the dead look in their eyes and a smile that was just a little too big. The demon doesn't have any time to respond as Hanji grabs a fist full of salt and shoves it in her mouth. The white grains mixing with the red as she coughed it up. "Priinceps gloriosissime cælestis militiæ, sancte Michaël Archangele,"

Her eyes widen, twitching as the exorcism is spoken. She looks to Eren, "Don't you want to know what happened to mummy dearest?"

The brunette steps forward, "Tell me what you know!" He demanded.

A sinister grin stretches across her face, "She died a painful death, her screams were like music."

He punches her hard, "We will find out what hell's doing and we'll destroy you all." Eren seethed. Mikasa grabs him by the shoulders and drags him away to let Hanji continue the exorcism.

"defende nos in prælio et colluctatione, quæ nobis adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiæ, in cælestibusus. Veni in auxilium hominum," The demon thrashes around, screaming at the group of hunters, but Hanji continues, "quos Deus creavit inexterminabiles, et ad imaginem similitudinis suæ fecit, et a tyrannide diaboli emit pretio magno." When They finish the woman's head throws back as a cloud of black smoke is forced out of her body, it falls into the ground and back to the depths of hell. Her head falls forward once again and Armin presses two fingers to her neck and shakes his head. She didn't make it. She was dead.

In complete silence the teens pack up. Cutting off the woman's restrains and burying her. Hanji gives nothing more than a wave before driving off leaving the teens there alone. Eren couldn't help but feel like this was all just a waste of time and a life, after all that they were still no closer to finding what they're doing or his father. A chill runs down his spine just thinking about what a nightmare it must have been. To be trapped in your own body but to have it controll you. The last thing that woman experience was being possessed and being tortured by them. It was all just a waste.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: graphic violence and content might be triggering~
> 
> Enjoy the chapter <3

 

The teens were quiet during the car ride. Each thinking over the events that just took place. Mikasa took them to the only place she could think of, the hunter's pub. She pulls up the dirt road and parks the car. The trio sit, brooding while watching poeple come and go from the bar. None of them wanted to move, not knowing what to do next. Eren was sure their only hope was to find Grisha. The teens can't fight this on their own, he didn't know what to do. But he wasn't done yet, he wouldn't give up. He was going to find his father and they would fight this. Once They were done the world would be saved and they could go home. Eren looks over at Armin. He had to keep going. The brunette takes in a deep breath and gets out of the car, the other two follow soon after. 

They walk into the building. The bar was busy at this late hour, drunken hunters calling their orders at Sasha. The teens sit down on the avalible stools. A very over worked Sasha hops up to them, "You guys are back! How did it go with Hanji?"

Mikasa looks between the two boys, "No, it didn't go well at all."

"Oh, I'm sorry. If you need somewhere to stay- " Sahsa's attention was taken away from the trio when another hunter started calling for a drink while waving money in her face. She grabs a cup and pours his requested drink, the girl hands it over and grabs the cash before stuffing it in the pocket of her waist apron. Sasha turns back to the teens. "You can stay with me."

"Thanks." Mikasa nods, thankful they had somewhere to stay for the night.  

They help Sasha with the pub and closing it up. After the last customer stumbles out the door Sasha smiles at the trio, "I'll show you where you guys will be staying." The hunters follow close behind her. Into the kitchen behind the bar and up the stairs. Sasha opens the first door and gestures inside the small room, "You two boys can stay in here tonight- Mikasa and I will be down the hall." She uses her thumb to point out her bedroom door over her shoulder. 

Both boys nod and walk into the room, leaving the two girls to go their own way. Inside the room they both sit down together in silence, until Armin broke it, "We can still do this."

Eren gives him a soft smile and places a hand over the blonde's, "I know- We'll find my dad, I'm sure he knows what to do." He looks away as his thoughts stray to his mother. He never had much hope since they found the abandoned car with the sulphur in it, but now there isn't any. He wondered if life could go back to the way it was before all of this, his normal. When they went on family hunts and Armin was his sanctuary. Eren curls his fingers around Armin's hand, he watches the blonde tighten his own grasp on his hand. The brunette slowly trails his eyesight up the other boy's arm, to the crook of his neck, lingering slightly on his soft lips, before finally meeting Armin's gaze. Their eyes lock onto each other. Eren's breath hitches as Armin tilts his head to the side. He wished it could be so simple, to be able to lose himself in the other boy's eyes. Those beautiful eyes. But he couldn't, not right now. Eren pulls away, closong his eyes and presses his lips together, "We should go to bed." He opens his eyes once again not quite being able to bring himself to meet the other boy's gaze again. 

Armin bites his lower lip and looks away slightly, "Yeah- Yeah, you're right."  

Eren turns away as much as he could. He needs to stop whatever this is. He needs to just push these feelings down, deep in the back of his mind so he can actually focus on the mission at hand. Yes, the mission at hand. What was he to do with that, he wondered. Eren had no idea. The brunette tossed and turned all night, trying to push away his emotions and the stress of the job was all too much to handel.

When the morning sun seeps into the small bedroom Eren finally gives up on finding sleep. He sits up and scratches the back of his neck before glancing over his shoulder. He looks back at the ground and lets his arm fall to his side. He gets up off the bed, changes for the day and wonders down stairs. Eren drops down onto a stool in the kitchen. He rests his head in his hands and waits. 

Soon after the girls come down the stairs. Sasha holds onto Mikasa's arm, giggling. She lays eyes an Eren and pulls away slightly from the other girl, "Good morning, Eren." The boy nods in return. "Did you sleep alright?" Sasha completely splits from Mikasa and starts to look around the kitchen. 

Eren grumbles to himself, when the sleepy looking blonde walks down into the room. The brunette automatically sits up straight. "Good morning, Armin." He needed to stay focused at the task at hand, hunting. That's all that mattered, until they got another lead- preferably towards Grisha, was hunting the filthy monsters of the world.

"Morning, Eren." Armin mumbles, he rubs at his barely open eyes and sits down next to the brunette.

Mikasa finally walks away from Sasha and sits with the two boys, "I've got us a quick case. We'll have to leave soon." Both boys nod slowly at her. 

Sasha leads the trio out of her pub and watches them as they get into their car. She waves as they pull out of the dusty parking lot, hoping Mikasa comes back soon. 

The three teens silently drive to the new hunting ground, which isn't too far from Sasha's. Mikasa pulls up to a small white building, they walk into it and flash their IDs. The receptionist gets up and leads them into the cold white room. A woman comes in soon after, looking down at a clipboard and only glances up at the trio. "You're here to see the boy?" She questioned. 

Mikasa nods, "What do you have?" The woman moves to a small metal door and opens it, pulling out the metal table. The doctor then pulls the thin white sheet back to reveal the body.

Eren scrunched up his nose, "What the hell happened?"

She just shakes her head, "I have no idea what could have done this." She picks up a file and holds it out to the teens. Armin takes it from the woman and tucks the file under his arm. All he needed was to get hold of the police report and they should be fine, or at least have enough information to hopefully identify the creature killing the people around here. "I'm not even sure how this happened," She continues, pulling out the plastic bag from the box between the boy's legs. She looks at the clothes that were contained in it, the fabric was covered in blood but it hadn't been cut in any way at all, _how had the boy been cut so deep into his belly without the clothes being damaged?_ Mikasa nods to the doctor before ushering the boys out of the building.

 

They still needed to find somewhere to hold up during the hunt. In Carla's car the trio drive around until they happen to find an abandoned house, it wasn't very run down so they should be fine for them to stay in for a few days. They set up, rolling out sleeping bags and sheets, along with lanterns. Once they had finished Armin sat on the ground with his laptop, looking over the police report for the latest killing. It was strange that not everything that he was last seen with was on his person, maybe killing the boy wasn't the aim of the creature. But Armin couldn't be sure until they found more evidence.

There's a sudden buzz from the police scanner on the table, Mikasa pulls it towards her and listens to the information given over it. The brunette looks at the two boys, "There has been another killing- We should go check it out." 

They pull up to a small suburban house, police tape sectioned it off from the rest of the street and surrounded by officers. They move to stop the hunters from entering, but the teens flash them the fake IDs and are allowed to pass. Inside the house they look around the crime scene. "What happened?" Eren asked one of the officers. 

He looks at the brunette, "home invasion. Guy murdered a teen and robbed the place." He states plainly. 

"What was taken?" Armin spoke up, stepping forward to stand beside Eren. 

"Just some jewellery." He shrugs, uncaring for what had just happened here. 

The teens looked between each other. The blonde turns away from the group and walks out before getting into the car. He's followed close behind by the other two teens. Armin pulls out his laptop.

"What is it, Armin?" Eren sits down in the car seat next to the blonde. 

He turns the computer towards the brunette, "The boy that was killed- His mother said in her statement to police when he left for the party on the other night he was wearing a gold chain around his neck, which wasn't found on his body, and in this latest attack the house was robbed." Armin states, "It has to be killing to get at the jewellery- I think the creature we're dealing with is a goblin." 

"A goblin?" Eren echos. 

Armin nods, "They are greedy creatures and like to horde their treasure in dark, damp caves."

"How can they be killed?" Mikasa leans into the car through the still open door, trying to get a better look at the screen.

Armin presses his finger to his laptop, pointing out the answer to her question, "Iron blades, you just need to stab them." 

Mikasa slams the car door closed and gets in the drivers side, "Got any ideas on how to find the thing?"

The teens pull up to a forest after dark. Mikasa hands each of the boys an iron knife each, with Armin slipping on a gold bracelet. They walk into the inky blackness, blades at the ready. Eren turns on a flashlight, shining it on the gold. To get the goblin's attention this way, he wasn't a fan. As long as the plan worked it should be fine, he told himself. At the sound of scampering the trio stop. Small feet running through the foliage. Each of them got ready, their backs together and blades at the ready. The thing showed itself, small green and grotesque. Yellow teeth and twisted, claw like nails. The goblin rushed Armin, tackling him to the ground. His head hits a rock with a large crack and causes his world to spin. Before it could do anymore damage Eren pulls the thing off the boy, the goblin scratches him across the face and wiggles out of his grasp. Mikasa steps in, protecting her brother from the fight. She swings the blade, it barely catches the beast as it jumps away from her. Growing more frustrated Mikasa throws herself forward landing on the creature and pins it to the ground. She sits up on the goblin as it tries to squirm it's way out from underneath her. She raises her iron knife above her head and thrusts it down into the creature's chest before pulling it out. It's blood pours out of it and flows onto the forest floor.

Mikasa gets up off of it and turns to the two boys. She watches as Eren helps Armin off the ground while she wipes the liquid off her knife onto her pants. With his head still spinning the boy clings to the brunette for support. Mikasa offers Eren help with carrying Armin, he denies and they begin trudging their way back to the car. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: graphic violence and content might be triggering~
> 
> Enjoy <3 <3

 

It had been a few weeks since their last hunt, mostly because Mikasa was too worried that Armin had been concussed when he hit his head on the last one. However, the blonde was sure he was fine, so finally she decided that they could find a new one. That was how the teens found themselves walking a forest trail early in the morning. Surprisingly there was hardly any officers around on the trail, Eren would have thought there should have been more to secure the crime scene. The teens hadn't stumbled upon a police officer until he found the scene of the murder.

Without thought they show their IDs and duck under the tape sectioning the area off. At the base of the tree they could see where the body once was as a puddle of sticky red mud was there. The blood must have mixed with the soil to create the muck that now a signal to where the man had been killed. An officer walks up to them, "We think its a serial killer-" He pauses, looking over the deep red mess, "This isn't the first, but every time they take the head."

"You- Didn't find the head?" Eren questioned. In response the officer nods and walked away. Well he wasn't very useful, Eren though, not like the ever really are. The brunette rolled his eyes at the police stationed around them.

"It kept the head." Armin stated, It must have been important to whatever killed the man, to collect so many of them it had to be. He raised his fist to his face and rested his nose against his knuckles and furrowed his brows. "This has to be it's preferred hunting grounds, if it's not tethered here-" He lowers his hand and looks to his friends, "We should check it out tonight." Without second thought the trio turn around, nod slightly to the officers and leave back down the trail they had followed to get to the site.

When night falls the trio make their way back to the forest, Armin hold the flash light as they make their way up the trail and to the crime scene. The woodland was thick with darkness that the light had a hard time showing the hunters enough of their surroundings. All they could do was hope they didn't have to physically confront the creature yet. They see the police tape in the light and the blonde boy shines the torch over the area. The killing was here there has to be a higher likelihood that the creature would show its face here, he reasoned. While looking around he sees that the blood soaked ground had been dug up, leaving a large hole at the base of the tree. They must have done the clean up after they left that morning. Nothing else was out of the ordinary, or at least had changed from when they saw it last, so they move on. Walking deeper into the inkiness.

A cold breeze rustles through the leaves causing a shiver to race down the teen's spines, but they continue on. They needed to get a better look, not everything is supernatural and they needed to make sure that it wasn't just a human killing all these people. In the distance Armin could see something, it was coming towards them. He takes hold of Eren's hand and points towards it with the torch. With the other two now focused on the figure in the distance, they watched it. They watched it as the figure steadily came closer, however it didn't bob up and down as a person would as they walked as it just stayed perfectly still but still ever growing closer. The teens weren't sure what to make of it, so they stayed quiet and waited for it to show it's face to them. Each of them froze completely still. It was close enough to them that they could see the missing head. The thing had no head. That was a conformation that this had to be a ghost, as it was humanoid and no person can survive without a head.

The two siblings held their weapons, simple blades, at the ready. However, both of them stayed still waiting for something to happen. The spirit stopped close to the hunters, as if it were waiting too. Eren raises his knife slightly and pulls his hand gently out of Armin's grasp. He could feel his sister's glare on the back of his head, her way of silently telling him to not do something stupid. The brunette grits his teeth, he was a hunter and he could do this. He slightly lifts his foot off the ground and takes a large stride forward, but that's all it took. The ghost's body snaps around to face Eren, it was now aware that he was there. It charges forward towards the huddled teens. Mikasa pushes the blonde out of harm's way. Eren slashes at the ghost, missing when his sister grabs his collar and tosses him behind her. He hits the ground with a thud. Before he could salvage his pride by getting back into the fight Mikasa had already stuck the iron blade into the spirit. She takes Armin's hand and pulls him up, then grabs hold of Eren's wrist to pull him up too. He yanks away from his sister, a wordless gesture to try and prove he could handle himself just fine.

Mikasa ignores him, "Come on, we have seen enough for tonight." She starts running, pulling the blonde with her with Eren keeping up beside the other boy.

Once back at the car Armin hunches over, having to catch his breath from keeping up with Mikasa's speed for such a long time. He happily fell into the car's back seat as his legs screamed with pain, Mikasa on the other hand didn't seem at all affected by the long run out of the forest.

Back at the motel the search started. Armin sat on one of the beds, looking at pages of police reports while both Mikasa and Eren looked though and packed the necessary weapons for their ghost hunt. The blonde boy furrows his brows and looks up, "I found the first beheading in the forest. His body was found in a shallow grave out there, like all the victims of the spirit his head was never found."

"Where was he buried?" Mikasa doesn't look up from her work as she says this.

Armin fiddles with his fingers, "He was cremated-" He pauses, "But, if he is still haunting the forest his head might still be out there."

Eren frowns at the ground, "How are we meant to find it?"

Armin gets up, places his computer down at the table before he takes a seat next to the other boy. Out of his pocket he pulls out a paper map of the area and starts to draw little red crosses over it, "This is where all the bodies have been found." The blonde then draws a circle around all of the markings then rests his pen in the centre of it, "I bet the head will be here- If not, then we have the rest of the circle to check." He was still unsure about the plan himself. The area was vast because each person was running away from where they initially saw the ghost, at least that's what he assumed.

Eren looked up calmly at the blonde, "So, we wait until morning and dig up the area?" He looks back down at the sawed off shot gun in his lap. Armin closed his laptop and nods at the other hunters even if no one was looking at him.

Mikasa gets up from her seat across from them, "Then it's best we get some rest."

Light creeps through the leaves as the trio made their way to the assigned search location, with shovels and shot guns in their hands. Now deep in the woods each of them dump their guns to the side and begin digging. The day slowly wore on, the sun traveling through the sky as the hunters kept digging. Slowly the light tinged the world with its deep orange rays. They couldn't give up no matter how much they ached or how much sweat poured off their skin. Armin collapses on the side of the hole he was digging, grabbing at his soaked shirt taking in deep breaths. Eren drops his shovel and crouches down next to the other boy, "Hey, are you okay?" He puts a reassuring hand on the blonde boy's shoulder, using his thumb to rub calming circles.

Armin nods, "Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry we need to keep looking." His voice came out raspy and dry.

"You shouldn't over do yourself- We can try again later." Eren looks at Mikasa to back him up.

His sister looks at the two boys, she seemed almost unaffected if it wasn't for the sweat she was currently wiping off her forehead with the back of her hand, "It's getting late we should stop and keep going tomorrow."

Armin gets back up on shaky legs, "No, I want to keep going."

Closing his eyes Eren takes a deep breath, "Okay, just for a little longer." He reaches over and grabs a water bottle, handing it to the blonde before getting up. The faster they finished checking the area the better.

Soon enough the light left the forest, leaving the teen in the dark. But, Armin was determined to finish, to find the head where he thought it would be. Suddenly the world stilled around them, not a sound could be heard. The teens felt a familiar chill run though their bodies and they slowly look up from their work. There it was, the ghost. Still moving strangely through the underbrush of the forest. Mikasa and Eren carefully get grab their guns, standing at the ready.

The brunette girl looks to the blonde and whispers, "You keep looking, we'll deal with this." Eren nods in agreement and Armin looks down to continue his digging.

The second Armin takes another shovel of earth from the ground the spirit turns in their direction. The sibling's first priority was to protect their friend while he kept looking for the head. Mikasa shoots first, hitting the ghost in the abdomen. It bursts into smoke and disappears from sight, but all of them knew it would only come back angrier and there was only so many shots they had. _How long could they keep this up for?_ All long as they could was the only answer Eren could come up with. Every time the thing showed up one of the hunters blasted it full with rock salt, but Armin didn't seem to be getting any closer to finding the head. They needed an exit strategy before they ran out of rock salt, which seemed to be sooner than later. The bangs from the shots ring loudly though the forest, until Mikasa tried pulling the trigger and nothing happened. Just as the teens had been dreading, their time had run out. She tosses the gun to the side, no longer having any need for it. Eren took this shot for her then threw his own gun to the side, if she was out of bullets so was he. There was only one option left now, the small iron knives they had hanging from their belts. He took out the blade, ready to give the fight everything he could. Because if he was going to finally be killed by the job he was going out swigging. The brunette took one last glance over his shoulder at the boy behind him, now he was ready to die if he had to.

The ghost steps out of the shadows, moving quickly and smoothly until it stood in front of Mikasa. She barely had time before it took her by the throat and smacking her to a tree, digging it's fingers into her skin. Mikasa couldn't breath, but she still had to fight. She slashes her blade across the spirits stomach. She was dropped to the ground, clutching at her neck. Eren turned around in a small circle, weapon at the ready. He wasn't expecting it when the spirit appeared out of no where, it flung him like a doll into the air. He hits the ground, the air knocked right out of his lungs. He had the wind kocked out of him, stuggeling in the dirt. e tried to breath, but he couldn't seem to catch a breath. Mikasa couldn't let it hunt her brother she just couldn't. She began beating her fist on the ground, it turned to her. She had gotten it's attention. It flicked it's wrist and she was thrown against a tree, the hard collision with it sent a sharp pain up her spine.

During all the chaos Armin kept digging, frantically. Finally he stopped, something was under the dirt and he couldn't risk damaging it. He got on his hands and knees, scrapping back the earth with his bare hands. As he unearthed it the ghost stopped. Both hunters struggled on the ground as the thing's sights turned to their friend. Armin clutched the head close to his chest ad it descended on him. It crouched down to his level, taking the blonde's head carefully into it's hands. Slowly the ghost's grip tightened. Eren dug his grip into the dirt, he needed to protect Armin, he had to give it his all. But he still couldn't breath properly, he was still suffocating and couldn't do a single fucking thing. He felt so powerless watching what was unfolding before his very eyes. The spirit moved it's grasp to Armin's neck, ready to pull the boy's head off. With his heart racing in his ears he slowly raised the head, now a dried skull, up to the spirit. He aligned it with the jagged cut neck. It stopped and let go, taking the head from the boy's grasp. The spirit got up from the ground and sat the skull in it's rightful place. The headless man now was complete. They turn and walk away, the forest was soon filled with a blinding light. Each of the hunters had to squeeze their eyes shut from the brightness. When the opened them again the no longer headless ghost was gone, they had moved on from this world at last.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Warning: graphic violence and content might be triggering~
> 
> So I'm like posting this at 12am, but at least I got the chapter and my exams finished. I will be able to post more now that I'm in the holidays for like the next month or two. 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter <3

 

Eren leans forward in his seat to rest his fore arms on the driver's seat of the car, which is currently occupied by Mikasa. "Tell me again why we're going back to the hunter's pub?"

Without taking her eyes off the road she replies, "I got a call from Sasha, she said something happened and she needs us to come round, she didn't say much else." Mikasa seemed worried, although she knew Sasha could handle herself she did care a lot for the other girl.

The brunette boy falls back and tilts his head back looking to the roof of the vehicle. They all knew that they had to check on their friend. The ride was tense with Mikasa tightening her grip on the steering wheel so her knuckles turned white before loosening her fingers from around it. When they arrive the teens run through the door into the pub, which was busy with customers. While trying to elbow their way through the crowd of hunters someone grabs hold of Armin's wrist, the boy lets out a small squeak and turns around to face the woman holding onto him. She was tall with short brown hair and freckles dusted across her cheeks, "Oh- Sorry I thought you were someone else." She says nonchalantly and drops the blonde's hand. She looks to the two teens behind him with an eye brow raised at their protective stance, she opens her mouth to make a snide remark but was stopped by small fingers wrapping around her upper arm.

The group look to the short blonde girl, "Ymir are you bothering these people," She looks at the trio, "I'm sorry if my girlfriend bothered you."

"No, it's fine." Armin speaks up as the other two went back to glaring down the taller of the two girls.

Ymir wraps an arm around the small blonde, "I lost you in the crowd and I mistook him as you." She gestures to the blonde boy in front of her.

Her girlfriend shakes her head slightly, she holds her hand out to the other teens, "I'm Historia and this is Ymir."

"I'm Armin," He takes her hand and looks back at his two friends, "This is Eren and Mikasa."

The two quickly shake hands and pull away, letting their arms drop back to the sides. "Are you guys hunters?"

"Yes and we really should be going." Mikasa cuts in, she turns on her heal.

Ymir rolls her eyes and Historia gives a polite, "I hope to see you around then."

Eren secures his arm around Armin and they move to follow Mikasa to the bar. Both brunettes walking in the opposite direction with a protective hold on their respective blonde. At the bar Sasha wipes her hands off on her apron and leans against the bar, "Thanks for coming- See there have been some horrific killings around here lately, I would take care of it but I have the pub to take care of and I couldn't let Connie go on his own." She nods her head to the small teen.

Connie takes a swig of his drink, "I swear I could."

She shakes her head, "I'm just worried. You guys will take the case, right?" Mikasa agrees and Sasha pulls out a folder from between the spirits on the shelf behind her.

The girl passes them off to the brunette with a quick thanks before she could get back to bar tending Eren stops her, "Hey, Sasha, who is that girl?" He jabs his finger towards where Ymir sat at the other side of the pub.

Sasha shrugs, "I don't know much, she just kind of shows up here every once in a while. At first it was just her, but now her and her girlfriend don't go anywhere without each other."

Eren just hums in response and lets her get back to her work. With her gone the group of teens move through the crowd out into the dark night. They huddle close under the only flickering light outside of the pub, "How about we have a look." Connie says and Mikasa opens the file, each of them skimming the words.

She closes the file and nods to Connie, "We'll split up here, but we'll meet up at the hunting ground, alright?" The group separates, getting into their own car to start the short drive.

The doctor looked between each of the hunters, "I don't know what to tell you, I think it was just an animal attack."

"But was there anything strange about it?" Armin asked.

They took a deep breath in, "Well I guess there is the fact that it ate his heart and nothing else."

Mikasa stood forward, "Thank you that's all we needed to know." The teens walk out of the building towards their vehicles, "Well there is only one thing that could have done that."

"A werewolf, right?" Armin looks to the brunette girl, she just nods stiffly at him.

Back at the motel Connie, Mikasa and Eren sat around a table, each discussing what to do with the werewolf. Armin, however, was sitting on one of the beds. He flipped through the book on his lap, skimming the words on the pages. He was sure that he would think of something. His eyes flicked to the assorted reports scattered out in front of him that he had collected. It seemed to have a hunting ground, but it would be preferable to find this thing in it's human form. It would be less dangerous that way. The blonde looks over the text again, werewolves were somewhat recognisably human, if they saw it's face they could find the wolf. He shook the thought away. If they wanted to corner it in their human form then it would be stupid to seek out them out in their wolf form. Armin shuts the book, setting it to the side and gathers up the papers from the bed. He gently climbs off the bed, trying not to crumple the report in the process. Making his way to the door Mikasa stops him, "Where are you going?"

"We're not getting anywhere by sitting here, I though I'd go do some interviews."

"I'll-" Eren starts, wanting to go with the blonde boy, but is cut off by Connie.

"You two can stay here, I'm happy to go with him." He jumps up from his seat and hurries out the door. Armin closes it behind the both of them and Connie stretches, "Man was it boring in there, good idea to get out."

The blonde just hums back, walking ahead of him. The two boys started by going door to door in what Armin thought was the wolf's hunting ground. Asking the residents about the killings. No one seemed to have any useful knowledge on the topic. The sun began to set, the orange light creeping over the street. They had agreed that they would question one more person before going back to the motel. Armin knocks on the door, stepping back slightly. Connie stood behind him, hands resting on the back of his head. A man opens the door, "Hello, can I help you?" The door is mostly closed with his head slightly poking out from behind it.

"We're journalists, we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about the murders in the area?" The blonde spoke up, taking in the man in front of him. He was very nervous, anyone would be if there was a string of killings where they lived.

The man looks behind him quickly, "Um, yeah- sure." He opens the door and steps back allowing them inside his house. He lead the teens into a living room. Armin's eyes were draw to the strange scar on the back of the man's neck, it was white so it was old and a permanent mark on his body. The blonde involuntarily hugs the papers to his chest, he couldn't tell what but something was off. All three of them sat down and the hunters asked him questions, just like everyone else he didn't seem o know anything about the killings, saying how bad he felt for the victims and their families.

Connie at this point seemed to be ready to fall asleep, "Uh- Thank you for your time, but I think that will be all-" He looks to the blonde boy, who opened his mouth but then shuts it again and just nods.

On their way back to the motel he couldn't shake the strange feeling the man gave him. When they walked in through the door Eren looks to them, "Did you find anything?" Sadly Armin shakes his head, he drops down into the seat next to the brunette and rests his head on the other boy's shoulder. "Well, we're just gonna have to find this thing." He picks up the draw string bag from the table and empties it onto his palm, the silver bullets collide and roll around in his hand. All they had now was to find the werewolf and end it.

They waited for the sun to go down to go into the darkness with their guns hidden in their coats, silver bullets loaded. "We'll split up into two groups to cover more ground and still have back up if we need it." Armin speaks up.

"I'll go with you." Eren takes hold of Armin's wrist, pulling the boy closer to him.

"Alright, if we find nothing we meet back here." The blonde continues. The two boys walk in one direction while Mikasa and Connie go in the other.

The streets are quiet, nothing moves or makes a sound. The only source of light was from the moon. Eren looks over to Armin, his curiosity got the better of him, "What would you have done if you never started hunting?" He just wanted to know.

"Well- I think I would have gone to university for something, I never really thought about it since we left when we were sixteen." It had been a long time ago and the blonde had never really thought about his normal life much since they had left.

His thoughts drift off to what Jean had said, "I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

"Huh? You didn't drag me into anything, I wanted to come with you." Armin's brows furrow in confusion, "I couldn't just let you go on without me, I want to be by your side." If it hadn't been so dark Eren would have been able to see the bright shade of red Armin's cheeks turned. He really hadn't thought about his life back home, although from time to time he found himself hoping his grandfather was doing alright without him, all he really cared about was that he was here with Eren and that he could be with him.

Eren looked away from the blonde boy as his own cheeks grew warm slightly, "I'm glad you're here- I don't know what I would've done without you."

Mikasa and Connie walk in complete silence, guns drawn and ready to shoot at any moment. There's a slight rustle from the bushes to their side, Mikasa stops dead in her tracks. Connie bumps into her, he goes to loudly ask her why she had stopped, but the girl covers his mouth with her hand. She pushes Connie away from her while looking into the dark trees for any sign of movement, waiting to see if the coast was clear to keep moving. In the thickness of the silence she hears it again, the slight movement of something running through the leaves. This could be it, the werewolf. Mikasa puts her other hand back on the gun, holding steady until she saw something move. Waiting for anything to show it's face. The werewolf pounces from the tree line, tackling Mikasa to the ground. Her weapon knocked from her hand with this beast on top of her. With her right hand she pushes it's face away from her while using the other to fend off it's swipes at her with it's claws. Connie held up his gun, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He couldn't take the shot, they were too close together, he could hit Mikasa. So, he did the only thing he could think of. He ran up to it and kicked. This got the wolf's attention, it stopped momentarily to look at the short boy. With an opening Mikasa throws her knee up, getting out from under it.

She scrambles to her feet. With Mikasa now away from the werewolf Connie lines up his shot and pulls the trigger, it ducks down close to the floor. Readying itself, then runs at the hunter. He frantically shoots off again, not being able to hit his target. clawing at him, Connie's concern moves to getting away from the wolf.

rapid footsteps can be heard coming closer to the hunter, "Hey!" Eren yells getting the attention of the werewolf. The beast looks around and realises it's out numbered and makes a quick get away into the trees. "Fuck!" The brunette shouts, they really fucked up. How were they to find it now?

Armin stares into the darkness, "Hey, Connie did he seem familiar to you?"

The hunter in question looked up at the blonde, "What are you getting at?"

"Maybe out questioning wasn't useless after all- I think that werewolf is the last guy we questioned." He still stared unblinking into the trees.

Eren stuffs his gun away and turns to the blonde, "You know where it is?" Armin nods, finally turning away from the direction the wolf ran.

They were sure the gun shots notified more people than just Eren and Armin, so the teens quickly get back to their cars. Knowing that the wolf had to go home at some point tonight that's where they headed. They parked their cars far enough away so that hopefully no one noticed them and just walked the rest of the way. Connie and Eren checked the perimeter for any signs of the werewolf, when they found nothing Mikasa kicked in the front door.

They cautiously walk into the house, they knew there was enough of them to over power one wolf but they still needed to protect themselves. From the shadows of the house something reached out, grabbing hold of Connie and threw him against the opposite wall. The wolf had in fact come back and with it's sights set on the teens left in front of it. With the beast preoccupied with attacking the teens, and them fighting back, Connie lifts his gun up while he sat against the wall. With pain shooting up his back he lined up the shot and took it, the bullet cutting through the air and piercing the flesh of the wolf. It's flung forward from the hit and smacks into Eren, who then had to push the body off of him. The man slightly withers on the ground as the brunette gets up from the floor. The hunters take a moment to look down on the wolf. Connie staggers over to them, ready to just leave this hunt behind.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not going to be writing the intros anymore (and will be deleting the previous ones for consistency) because I'm just getting stuck with them. Obviously there is still gore in this fic, but I'm trying to be more vague with it since that's not really what it's about as it's just meant to be supernatural-esque drama. So, for now on I will be focusing more on the drama that usually comes with supernatural.
> 
> Thanks and I hope you enjoy the chapter <3

Eren watches Armin from across the table at the diner they were in, the boy scrolls through his phone, probably the news to find them their next hunt. The brunette slowly chews on his food while looking at the blonde, who had left his own food slightly pushed to the side and forgotten. He finally stops and turns the device around for his two friends to see. Mikasa takes it from Armin and the blonde focuses on stuffing as much food into his mouth as possible. He swallows down his food, "I also found a forum, it seems silly- but some people in the town seem to think the area is haunted or something, more specifically the local train station- I couldn't find much else other than that and the news reports."

Mikasa hums, looking over the report on the phone's screen, "We can check it out-" She hands the phone back to Armin, "We should get going."

Mikasa parks the car not too far away from the train tracks. The trio get out with shot guns in hand. They start walking, the gravel crunching under their feet. The trail was completely dark as the trees on either side of the tracks blocked any moon light. All the teens could do was focus on walking forward. Something felt off, they couldn't explain it but each of them was tens and their breathing hard. Eyesight wandering frantically around them, looking for any sign of movement in the pitch black. But, they kept moving forward. They kept moving forwards because they had no choice, _if they didn't do this then who would?_ Eren thought to himself. He was doing this to save people, to eradicate this world of monsters.

The group stiffen when they see a silhouette in the distance, something walking across the tracks. Each of the teens immediately raise their guns and aim. It didn't seem to notice them as it kept walking without a care. Armin lowered his weapon and whispered, "I don't think that's a ghost."

The siblings followed suit with putting their guns away and jogged towards the silhouette. It was indeed a person walking across the tracks. "What the hell are you doing here?" Eren seethed, lacing his fingers through his hair.

"And who the fuck are you?" The man raised an eye brow looking over the teens.

"Sir, you need to leave now. We will escort you away from the tracks." Mikasa say coolly, gesturing for him to follow them.

He took a step back from the hunters, "Uh, no thanks." His eyes drift from the group to something behind them. Eren could feel his stomach drop as the chill creeped up his skin. He turned around to see someone face down on the ground, fingers dug into the gravel of the tracks. The man pushed aside the teens to go to the person. "We need to help her!" He shouts looking back at the teens.

Armin's eyes were trained on the woman, "Sir, please come away from her." He held out his hand and slowly moved towards him.

"What? No she-" His voice died in his throat when he took in the rest of her. The missing part of her body, the whole lower half of her body gone. He jumps back and the woman lifts her head, when they make eye contact he screams. Now with him out of the way Mikasa takes the shot. The bang fills the silent night air and the salt hits its target. The woman turns to smoke. "Ah, what the fuck was that?"

"A ghost, now are you coming or what?" Eren looks at the other man impatiently.

"We've got a car just back that way, we can get you to somewhere safe if we head there." Mikasa points in the direction from where they had come from.

Silently they walk back, weapons at the ready. By this point their eyes had now adjusted to the darkness and were waiting for the spirits next attack. Their senses still on high alert, where was the ghost? They didn't have to wait much longer as she crawls out of the inkiness, digging her nails into the ground and dragging her body towards them. Armin lines up his shot and took it. The rock salt hits the spirt and is blown away by the breeze. "Good shot, Armin!" Eren had a wide smile across his face and wrapped an arm around the blonde, squeezing his shoulder.

Armin gave him a small smile back, leaning slightly into the half embrace, and warmth rising in his cheeks, "Thanks."

"Can we please focus on what's happening right now?" The man dramatically waves his hand around in front of him and shook his head at the two boys. He moved ahead of the group, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Right" Eren says with a hint of irritation in his voice, he drops his arm from around Armin to continue forward. A chill passes through the air and the hairs on their arms stand up straight. The hunters look around, they can't see anything but she must be close again. The ghost lunges out of the shadows, latching onto his leg. She claws up his leg and digs her fingers into his stomach. The man lets out a blood curdeling scream as the spirit starts to tear into his flesh. Carefully, as to not hit the man, Mikasa pulls the shot gun's trigger. sending the ghost away. Armin drops to the ground using both hands to push down on the gapping hole in his abdomen. Mikasa kneels beside them, "I'm going to carry him." She scoops the man into her arms and lifts him up effortlessly, Armin moves with her as he keeps applying pressure to the wound. With Eren being the only one with a weapon and with the man bleeding out they needed to get back to the car as soon as possible. Eren kept shooting at the ghost, protecting the others. When the car was in his sight he rushed over and opened the door. Mikasa gently placed him inside and Armin got in after, holding the other man and trying to stop the blood flow. The drive to the hospital felt longer than it was, even with Mikasa speeding down the road. She had carried him into the building and had quickly been taken by doctors and nurses.

The trio stood there in close to the entrance just looking at where they had taken the man. They waited until a nurse came from that direction and Eren stopped him, "How is he?"

The nurse frowned, "I'm sorry he didn't make it." Was all he said then he walked away from the teens.

Slowly Armin looked down at his trembling hands, his eyes wide. Staring at them, covered in the sticky red liquid. He felt like he was going to be sick. He let his hands drop to his sides and wordlessly walks towards the bathroom. He turns the knob on the basin, running the icy water over his skin. He holds one hand with the other and uses his thumb to rub off the blood. The tap was gushing out water, so much so that the sink couldn't drain fast enough. It filled with the water and swirling crimson tinted the rest of the sink. He turns off the tap and rests his hands on either side of the basin watching the bloodied water drain. He doesn't look up when he hears the door open with a creak. Mikasa slips into the room with him. She's quiet, but she places a firm hand on his shoulder as the only way to comfort him that she could come up with. Mikasa tries to think of something to say to him, something to reassure him that everything was fine. But, she couldn't think of anything. So she wrapped an arm around him and tucked his head under her chin. Mikasa pulled away from him, "Eren will be back with new clothes." Armin silently nodded back at her, still not breaking his gaze from the sink.

The door opened again, this time it was Eren who walked into the bathroom. He held a plastic bag, digging through it he handed Mikasa some clothes and she left the two of them alone. Armin finally looked away from the sink and towards the brunette. Tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. Eren dropped the bag on the ground and wrapped Armin up in a tight embrace, he wished he could take all the pain away from the other boy, but he knew he couldn't. Armin held onto Eren, like if he even slightly let go it might be the death of him. The tears freely spilled from his eyes and the blonde buried his head in taller boy's chest. Eren pressed his lips and nose against the top of Armin's head, "You can't save everyone." He muttered into The other boy's hair. That was all the blonde needed to gain his strength back, to be held by Eren.

They walked out and met Mikasa, she took the bag that was now filled with Armin's red stained clothes and put her own inside. Quietly they walk out of the hospital and sit in the car. Then Armin spoke up, "I want to go to the police station to do research." He knew what needed to be done and he was going to do it, even with the night's loss. Without a single word Mikasa started up the car and followed his request.

They pulled up to the station. The teens flashed their IDs the receptionist, who squinted at each of them while looking over them. He took his time looking between Armin and his badge. Finally they let the hunters pass and they found a room, The blonde sat at the computer and started his search. Eren hovered over the other boy, skimming over the files he pulled up. meanwhile Mikasa leaned against the door, looking out for anything. She heard people talking just down the hall and she became curious. Mikasa slipped out of the room, sticking close to the wall she shuffled down towards where the people were. She stopped ad looked at the receptionist talking to another officer, "I swear that kid that came in look exactly like the missing one from Shiganshina."

"If I check will you leave me alone?" The police officer snapped. The receptionist agrees and points down the hall.

Without another second Mikasa rushes back into the room, "We have to go, now!" She orders them.

Armin clicks a button to print the report he was reading. Eren snatches in out from the printer and calmly walk out of the room. The blonde looks towards reception and sees the officer walking towards them, "Hey! I need to talk to you!" He calls. Mikasa grabs hold of both boys and started to sprint down the hall, she doesn't stop not even when more police started to yell after them. Eren sneaks a glance behind them to see the police chasing after them, screaming for them to stop. Mikasa takes a sharp turn and cases Eren to snack into the wall, he then decided to keep his eyes forward. At the end of the hall was a second exit, Mikasa kicks it open and pulls the boys through. She dragged them behind her all the way back to their car, she yanked the back door open. Armin was pushed in first, landing on his butt, which wasn't too bad until Eren was thrown carelessly on top of him. Mikasa slams the door shut and gets in the driver's side, pushing the accelerator down as far as she could and peeled out of the parking lot, leaving all the police in her rear view mirror.

Eren pushed up off of the blonde slightly and the two of them made eye contact. Armin cheeks grew hot and Eren swallowed hard. He couldn't help but admire how beautiful the boy looked in that moment, bright eyes and glowing pink cheeks. He wanted more than anything in that moment to just comb his fingers through the other boy's golden hair. Eren could feel the gentle flutter of butterflies in his belly when he thought about touching Armin. The brunette looked away, looking at the back of his sister's head and he lifted himself up more as to let the blonde wiggle out from underneath him. There was a rush of regret when he took his seat, he shook it off and avoided looking over at the other boy. "Uh- Eren, do you have the paper?" Armin spoke to him. Eren hummed and passed him the paper that he had printed.

The drive was short but they made it to the grave yard. Looking at the sky the hunters wondered if they had enough time to do this. But it didn't matter. While they navigated the headstones Eren asked Mikasa, "So, why were we chased out of the station?"

Mikasa was silent until she found the grave they were looking for, she began digging, "They recognised Armin-" Mikasa paused as she tossed dirt over her shoulder, "We have to go into hiding for a bit, change out IDs as well." She though out loud, she knew she needed to protect them- her family and she was willing to do what it takes to do so. They continue to dig in silence when they hit the coffin. They hop out of the grave and dup the salt and gas on the corpse inside, throwing a match on it. The flames quickly spread and consume the body and the teens watch it burn.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

A knock at Mr. Arlert's door is what woke him in the early morning. The old man shuffled to the front door, when he opened it he was greeted by a police officer. He stepped aside to let them in. Inside they sat at the dining table and grandpa Arlert waited for the officers to start speaking. "There was a sighting of your grandson. He was with two other people." He immediately thought of the Jaeger kids, if he was with them then he was fine. He told the officers just as much and the gave him a strange look before leaving, but he knew his grandson was alight. He was safe, he just hoped he would come home soon.

They had been hiding for too long and Eren wanted to go on a hunt. That's what their job was and if they couldn't find anything about his father then he wanted to be out there, protecting the world from the things that lurked in the shadows. He sat silently, reading through the local news paper, anxiously looking up at the two other hunters to see if they had caught on to what he was planning. They seemed not to know at all, Armin was laying on his stomach paging through a book and Mikasa was flipping a dagger in her hand. Eren focuses on the paper in his hand, he found that there had been a string of disappearances where they were staying it was worth checking out. Silently he did his research alone, paranoid that either of the others would put it together. Although, Eren didn't think they had yet. This was his time to go out, kill it and be back before they even knew he was gone. He got up and stretched, "I'm just going to go out a get groceries." Mikasa hums and Armin looked up from his book to give Eren a sweet smile. They didn't suspect a thing.

As calmly as he could possibly manage, which wasn't exactly his thing, Eren made his way to the car. He sat in the driver's side and glances back to their motel room. Without second thought he drove off. Street lights passed by him with great lengths of darkness in between. He knew where it would be hiding and he was going to find it. Eren pulls off the main road, driving down a smaller one. He parks in front of the run down building. With his weapon at the ready Eren tries to open the door. It's difficult and he needs to push his whole body up against it to get it open. Once inside he looks at the rusted hinges and shakes his head making his way deeper inside. It was quiet, with only the faint drip from a leek somewhere in another room, Eren could hear the thumping of his heart beat in his ears filling the emptiness. He pushed a door open slightly, ducking his head inside to see only broken wooden planks on the floor. He backed up and into something, something that wasn't there before. An arm locks Eren against them and their other hand used to cover his mouth. With his heart hammering in his chest Eren shoves his elbow into the person's ribs. He didn't have enough momentum to do much damage, but it did give him the chance to pull himself from their grasp. He turned around, ready to attack when they slammed him into the wall, his blade slipping from his grasp. They tightly grasp Eren's chin and raise up their other hand, it glowed with a faint blue light. Eren tried to squirm away as they press it against his forehead.

Mikasa was beginning to get frustrated, she threw her phone down onto her bed it still trying to call Eren's phone. She pushed her fingers through her hair, "Where is he?" Both of them knew there was something wrong, it didn't take this long to go shopping. With her fingers still knotted in her hair Mikasa eyesight slid over to Armin, he was looking at the news paper Eren was reading before he left.

Without looking up from the paper he spoke to her, "He was acting strange ever since we got here, hasn't he?"

He wasn't really looking for Mikasa's conformation of this fact but she answered him anyway, "I- uh- guess." She let her hands drop to her sides and sat next to him.

"I think he might have decided to go on a hunt on his own." He tilted the news paper towards Mikasa, letting her skim over the report on the recent disappearances. Mikasa got up and out of the motel room, Armin following close behind her. Eren had taken the car with him, so Mikasa looked around the parking lot. There was one car that was parked away from the street light, that was going to be their ride for tonight.

_Eren opened his eyes with a gasp, he quickly sat up and looked around. He was in a dark room, he could barely see anything. But, he looked down and he noticed he was in a bed. Had all of that been a dream? He wondered. He looked beside him and saw blonde hair, Armin was curled up in the blankets fast asleep. It must have been a dream, more like a nightmare. with the sight of the boy beside him Eren looked to the other side. His brows furrow, a picture frame sat on the night stand next to the bed. They were in a motel, why was there a picture? He reached out and picked it up, lifting it up close to his face to see what the image was of. It was a picture of the two of them that he was sure they never took. He was sure because this picture was of Eren smiling at the camera with the smaller boy reaching up to press a kiss to his cheek. He put the frame back down and threw a look over his shoulder, he was confused more than ever. Eren looked around and saw a door slightly ajar. Removing the covers Eren got up and shuffled out into the next room. It was small, containing all the living room, kitchen and dining table in one space with only two other doors, one of which was obviously the front door._

_Eren wondered around the space, taking in all the little details. Every piece of furniture, every book and every photo. Some of which he recognised and others completely new. He stopped in the kitchen where there was a window, it over looked the busy city street below. Eren wondered if this was real, could it have really granted him a wish? There came shuffling from the bedroom. A sleepy looking Armin stood at the other side of the room, his eyes half closed and on hand in a fist rubbing at his eye, "Eren, are you okay?"_

_"I- uh, yeah." He stammered out, still in complete disbelief._

_Armin shuffles the rest of the way to Eren, wrapping his arms around the brunette and resting his head against the other boy's chest. He could tell Eren wasn't alright, but knew that he would come to him when he needed it. "Do you want to go back to bed?" Armin asked instead._

_Eren hugged Armin back, "Yeah, sure." He looked down and could swear the blonde had fallen asleep on him. "Armin?" The boy in question slightly looked up to him, eyes still barely open and just hummed to confirm he had not in fact fallen asleep. The two of them moved back into the bedroom and crawled into bed together. Eren laid on his back and let Armin cuddle into his side, he then rolled over to curl up around the other boy before letting himself go to sleep._

Armin and Mikasa pulled the metal table out in front of them. A grey tinted body sitting on it with a thin white sheet over it. Armin pulls on a pair of rubber gloves, pulling back the sheet. He looks for anything out of the ordinary. His eyes land on their neck, he crouches down and leans in closer to see it properly. It was a small puncture wound, but it was too small for him to be able to tell. He ran his finger over the mark, it was slightly indented and it was definitely a wound. "Look at this." He beckoned Mikasa over and she squatted down next to him looking at it, she had never seen any monsters make this sort of mark before. She shrugged. They both got up and Armin picked up the report from the small metal table beside them. He flipped through the pages and tucked it into his coat, "We should go now." Mikasa agreed.

They calmly walk out of the building and sat in the car. Armin pulled out the file and an old leather bound book. Mikasa watched him closely as he skimmed the report. He pauses on one section in the report. The body was drained of most of it's blood. He opens the book and flips through it. "Come on, Armin, we need to find Eren," She pleads.

"I know, I'm trying." Armin keeps looking, he couldn't find anything that would leave a needle mark on their neck. He pauses on one page and looks to Mikasa, "I think I found it."

Mikasa starts the car, "How do we kill it?"

"A silver knife dipped in lamb's blood."

_Eren woke up once again, this time the room was filled with the early morning rays. Still curled up with Armin and still in the apartment. Eren got up, resting on his elbow when he felt Armin stir against him, the boy rolled over and smilled up at him. The blonde pulled his arm out from under the blankets and lifted it up to stroke Eren's face, he than moved his hand to behind his neck and lifted himself up off the bed to press their lips together. The kiss was soft and caused Eren's belly to do a flip inside him. He then leaned into it, lifting his own free hand to the back of Armin's head and laced his fingers through his hair. The kiss was all he had ever imagined it would be and he never wanted it to stop. Then Armin pulled away, Eren let out a harsh breath and opened his eyes to look directly into the blonde's. "Good morning." He whispered to the brunette and Eren muttered it back._

_Armin got up, moving out of the bedroom and Eren followed close behind. In the Kitchen the blonde asked, "Anything you want in particular for breakfast?" He yawned at the end of his question._

_Eren shruged, "I don't know-" He trailed off, not quite sure what he's doing. He guessed he would just follow Armin's lead until he grew into this new world._

_The blonde opens up the fridge and looks inside then humms, "How about pancakes, they sound nice."_

_Eren turns his focus back on the other boy and walks over to him, placing his hands on Armin's hips as the blonde got out the ingrediants for cooking. He backed up and Eren moved with him to let the blonde put the ingrediants down on the counter. The brunette split from the other boy to get out the equipment needed to cook with. They dumped the ingrediants in and mixed it in, both had a hand on the spoon as the mixed it. once they found a rythum it was easy, every once in a while one of them would break it and something would spill out of the bowl- mostly the flour. With the batter prepared the both let go of the spoon and Armin looked up at Eren. The blonde had the white dust on the side of his face and giggle at the brunette. Eren gently dusted the flour off of him then leaned down to bring their lips together. Maybe it had granted his wish after all and he was thankful for it. Thankful that he has this life with the blond now. The two part and rest their foreheads together. Armin leaned up and pecked him on the lips once more before pulling away completely._

_Days pass and slowly they turn to weeks, all spent with the blonde in this new world. He lived a normal life, which was very strange for the brunette. No hunts, no fights, no death. Only him and the other boy. Eren learnt a lot about this new world. He was really getting used to this new world, even if there was something that itched in the back of his mind. If he wasn't out there fighting the supernatural, who was? Eren cast this out of his mind, there was others. It shouldn't be his responsibility to save everyone. Instead he focused on his life in the moment, focused on being with the blonde. It hits him like a rock, he had been so caught up in feeling Armin that he had never even spared a thought for his family. What had happened to them when the wish was granted? He had no idea. Eren propped himself up on his elbow looking at Armin, "I was thinking maybe we should see my parents." He speeks softly, trailing his fingers down the blonde's jaw and down the side of his neck._

_The other boy gives him a lazy smile, looking up from his position tucked under the bed sheets, "Okay, if you really want to." He snuggles closer into Eren's chest. The brunette drapes an arm around Armin, he lays down and tucks the blonde's head under his chin._

The road was dark and Mikasa was speeding down the road, she just needed to find her brother. They knew now that he was in trouble and needed help and they were going to get there as soon as possible. The search starts now. Mikasa watched the street lights speed past her as Armin gave her the directions to the first location, "They like to live in old abandoned buildings the bigger the better, as there's more hiding places- I found a few around this area, we're just going to search them all until we find Eren." The first drive way coming off the road shows and she turns it without slowing, tires screech against the ground and Armin is thrown into the car door. The building was small and dilapidated, the windows shattered. They jump out of the vehicle and Mikasa kicks in the door. Inside there wasn't much a few rooms, she slammed open each door and looked inside. There was nothing a few dead leaves and puddles of dirty water, but no Eren to be seen. Mikasa started grinding her teeth and grabbed hold of Armin's wrist, pulling him back to the car.

She backed out of the drive way at high speed and continues to the next location. Armin worried that they didn't have enough time to search every abandoned building, but Mikasa was determined to find where it was hiding and to save Eren.

"This small road up ahead, turn down there." Armin pointed for good measure. Mikasa didn't waste a second turning down the road. Soon they pulled up at a larger building. The first thing they noticed about this place was Carla's car, Eren was here. The second thing they noticed was the building itself, it was just as run down and the plants around it was over grown. They just hope they got here on time.

_The drive over was nerve wracking, his knuckles white from his tight grip on the steering wheel. Eren looked at his parents house from the car window. He was nervous about going in and seeing them again. Armin reached over and squeezed his knee, the brunette flashes him a smile and they get out. It felt strange walking up the path to his house, he hadn't been back in such a long time. But, he needed to know. Needed to know they were still there, safe and sound. He knocks three times against the wooden door, then steps back to wait. The door swings open revealing Carla on the other side, she smiles and Eren could feel the tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He pulls her into a hug, "Hey, mum."_

_Carla leads the boys inside the house. His home was so familiar yet a stranger to Eren. It felt like a lifetime ago when he was a part of his old life, his town, his home, his family. And it was all back, thanks to one wish. Eren was over joyed to have everything back to the way it was before. They take a seat in the living room, "Where's dad?" Eren asked._

_Carla looked towards the front door, "Oh, he's out right now-" She looks back at Eren, "Did you want to talk to him?"_

_"I did- And where's Mikasa?" Both Carla and Armin gave Eren a questioning look, furrowed eye brows and tiled heads._

_"Mikasa?" The blonde boy's tone thick with confusion._

_The brunette gave the other boy his own strange look, "Uh-" He started but he instead turned to his mother, "My sister, Mikasa- Ackerman." He looked to the older woman for conformation of what he was talking about._

_"Oh- You're talking about the Ackermans-" She trailed off, resting her hands on her lap, Carla moved closer to her son, "Sweetie, they died years ago-" Her voice quiet as she sent Armin a small glance, "In a hunting accident."_

_"But we-" Weren't they supposed to go on that hunt?_

_Carla cut him off, "Honey are you feeling alright?" She reached over and touched his forehead with the back of her hand. She just couldn't understand why her son wouldn't remember this._

_Then the front door was opened, Grisha was back. With confusion still clouding his mind Eren got up and walked towards the front door. There stood his father, "Dad," He continued walking and hugged Grisha, Eren pulled back, "I've missed you."_

_"What are you doing here, Eren?" His father asked in a cold tone, it had taken him aback a little._

_"To see you and mum." He managed to get out._

_Grisha pushed past his son, "The day you said you didn't want to hunt anymore, the day you left, I thought I told you not to come back." He didn't even spare a glance at Eren, he came off so emotionless._

_"What?"_

_His father turns on his heel to look his son in his eyes, "You were raised to hunt- to help free this world from those vile monsters and you chose a 'normal' life instead." Grisha's features were hardened with anger and disappointment. "You're not my son, so just leave and never come back- It would make everyone happier."_

_Eren could feel a painful knot in his stomach form, tightening with every hateful word that left his father's mouth. He trembled under his father's gaze, he wanted to cry, he wanted to scream. He wanted all of that, but instead he walked past his father and into the living room. "Come on, Armin, let's go." His own voice was harsh as he placed his hand on the blonde's lower back and pushed him along out the door, leaving his family and home behind him._

Something felt off about this place, both of them could feel it, maybe it was because they were walking into the lair of a beast. They were slow going up to the entrance and Mikasa didn't kick in it, because it was already open. Ever so slightly, just enough for someone to squeeze through, both hunters did and realised that the hinges must have been too rusted for the door to open anymore than it already was. The two stuck together while they moved down the halls. Mikasa went to move on and Armin grabbed her arm. He yanked on her slightly to get her attention, she looked back at him to see he was pointing at the ground. She followed his finger to a blade dipped in blood on the ground. Eren must have been attacked at this point. Armin kneeled down and picked it up, having two weapons was better than one. They both continued into the darkness, now knowing they had to be careful as something must be watching them.

They come across a set of broken stairs, bracing themselves if it collapsed in on them the teens started walking down them. Holding on tight to the rails, unsure of what creak would cause the stairs to finally give in, they plunge into the inkiness that must have been the basement. The teens stop to take in their surroundings. It stunk of rotting meat and it caused their noses to scrunch up and eyes to water, they soon saw why it smelt so bad. In the corner of the room a dead body hung, a needle stuck in it's neck. They had found it. They scan over the rest of the room and their eyes stop on the unconscious Eren that hung in another corner, needle in his own neck and his blood dribbling down a tube into a plastic bag. They both rush over, Armin took the other boy's head in his hands using his thumb to gently caress his cheek, "Eren! Eren, please wake up." He couldn't help the hot tears that spilled down his own cheeks when he felt the other boy was cold and motionless, "Please." He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, down the side of his face and left his fingers lingering on his chin. Mikasa stood back, watching the situation while still keeping an eye out for an attack.

_The apartment was quiet and Eren sat there in the darkness brooding. Staring at the wall. He thought this was a wish come true, but it still had it's down falls. He couldn’t decide what to do. His thoughts were disturbed when Armin came out of the bedroom, he leaned on the doorframe and looked over Eren with a face of concern, "Come to bed, Eren." He pleaded with the other boy, he stood there looking at him with sad eyes waiting for a reply. But when it didn't come he added a small, "Please."_

_"I'm fine, you go on." He looked away from the other boy, who lingered in the door way. Armin was conflicted, wanting to stay but knowing right now he needed his space. The blonde backed up, hand still on the door frame, his eyes still watching Eren, before turning around and heading deeper into the room._

_With the other boy gone Eren slightly curled in on himself, hiding his face in his hands. What was he to do? Go back and make it take the wish back? was he supposed to kill the genie? But did he even want to? He was torn. Eren lifted his head from his hands and looked to the bedroom, unable to see anything but knowing the blonde was tucked under the covers waiting for him. All he needed to do was to get up and go to bed, but he was a hunter. He saved lives by killing those monsters. He killed monsters and he would kill this one too, like he was supposed to. Eren got up and went to the kitchen, digging through the drawers until he found the silver wear. He took a knife and he looked over his shoulder once more to where Armin lay sleeping. Before he could reconsider he walked out the front door._

_Once again he pulled up to the abandoned building. He took a deep breath. With the knife in hand Eren got out of the car. Crossing the distance between the entrance and his car. The door was still slightly open and he slipped inside. The building was just as he remembered it. Run down and broken. Slowly he walked deeper into the building. Down the stairs and into the basement, he wasn't sure why but he knew something would be down there. He stopped in his tracks looking around him. Taking in his surroundings his eyes were drawn to the other side of the room, away from the other dead bodies. There was a space, empty but he mindlessly moved towards it. He reached out his hand a touched the bag hanging there. Quickly he recoiled his hand, keeping it close to his chest. Was he? Was he in here? Eren swung around looking desperately around him. This was all fake. It was never real. He's stuck here as the genie slowly kills him._

_He stopped when he felt a small hand on his shoulder, "Eren, what are you doing here?" Armin's voice came from behind him._

_Eren tuned around to face him, eyes wide he uttered, "You're not real."_

_The blonde shook his head, "No, I'm not. But you're happy here. Isn't this what you wanted?" Armin cupped Eren's cheek, gently rubbing his thumb under the other boy's ear._

_"I'm going to die." Eren leans into the blonde's touch, tears prickling in the corners of his eyes._

_"Yes you will, but we'll spend a lifetime together. You've already given enough. You can't save everyone, but you can save yourself and just rest. Be happy with me, isn't that all you ever wanted?" The blonde boy leans in and presses a soft kiss to the brunette's lips then looked up at him with a gentle gaze._

_Eren knew how true these words were. From the time he was a child he wanted to run away with Armin, show him the world and just be with him. But he wanted the real Armin, his Armin. He wanted to do all of that with his Armin. Eren pulled away slightly, he opened his mouth to speak. The words stuck in his mouth, but if he knew he might never get to say this to the real Armin so he said it now, "I love you." The words tumbled out on shaking breath and tears slipped down his cheeks, but it was out now and that was all that mattered. Eren raised the knife up and thrusts it down into his belly. He couldn't feel it, and he couldn't hear whatever Armin was saying, but his vision faded to black as he fell to the floor._

Eren groaned and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he lays eyes on is the blonde looking back at him, he watches as Armin lets out a small gasp and wiping away tears from one eye with the back of his hand. He looks up at his Armin, the real one, with awe. Letting himself get lost in those beautiful eyes, feeling his hand cup his own cheek. Armin moves his hand to Eren's neck, in a daze he wondered if the blonde was going to kiss him. He had a rude awakening when Armin ripped the needle out of his neck. Eren hissed and Armin's face turns to shock, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Eren." He then moved onto cutting the boy free with the knife he had picked up earlier. Eren collapses onto Armin and the blonde, who instantly wraps his arms around him. The brunette releases another groan from the pain shooting through his stiff body as he clung to the blonde boy.

Armin started guiding Eren up the stairs and out the basement. Mikasa followed close behind ready to fight the genie. When she spotted movement she let the boys continue without her, as she waited for it to show it's face. Slowly it emerged from the shadows and Mikasa slashed at it. The genie backed up, she continued to slash and it tried to fight her back. Trying to touch her with it's glowing hand to put her under it's spell. But Mikasa would not let herself be subdued, she fought until she plunged the blade deep into it's stomach. The blue faded from it's eyes, hands holding onto the blade around Mikasa's own hands. She looked into it's eyes and pulled the knife out, watching as the genie stumbled backwards and fall to the floor. She didn't stay for much longer and ran up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be honest, I only wrote this because I wanted an Eremin version of episode 20 season 2 (Genie episode). 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!! <3


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Eren sat in the car, Mikasa had gone into the motel to pack up. He and Armin sat alone in silence, "I don't know what happened in there, but it had it's down side and I hope you know whatever in there wasn't real. You're fine now." Armin placed a hand over his own, squeezing it slightly.

 

Eren looked down at his hand, his stomach twisting, "Yeah, I know." His voice was soft, and he didn't know how to take what the other boy said. Yes, his father hated him and Mikasa was dead, but he had a life with Armin and his mother was still alive. It felt like an even trade. He didn't voice this, he knew they had things to do. His real father was out there, and he was going to find him. Eren turned his hand around and held Armin's. He stared at their fingers that were interlocked, thinking their life together in the genie's make-believe world. He lost all of it and he wasn't sure how to deal with it. He only pulled his hand away, and pushed his feelings down, when Mikasa opened the door and threw bags in. Wordlessly she started the car and left the motel parking lot, they were more than ready to leave this town. Mikasa wasn't sure where she was going, only that she was taking her family far away from any harm.

 

Her phone goes off and she leans over, eyes still on the road, to the passenger seat where her phone sat. Fumbling with the device she finally she answers, pressing it against her ear, "Hey, Levi." She pauses as she listens to what he has to say, "You heard from Grisha?"

 

Eren perked up at this, "Let me talk to him!" He demands. None of them was sure there was anything to really find, but Eren welcomed the distraction from the thoughts knocking about inside his head. Mikasa swats his hand away with the hand she was holding the phone with.

 

"I understand- We're coming over now." She tosses the phone back on the passenger seat.

 

"Why wouldn't you let me talk to him?" Eren frowned, frustrated with his sister.

 

Mikasa sighs, "We'll see them soon don't worry."

 

"Just rest, you lost a lot of blood from the genie." Armin held onto Eren's forearm and gave him a comforting squeeze.

 

They fell into silence for the rest of the drive. Pulling up to Levi and Erwin's house. It was just as pristine as the first time they showed up. Roughly Mikasa knocks on the door, which is answered by Levi. He ushers the teens into the house. The teens take a seat at the table with the two older men. "Where's my dad?" Eren asks harshly.

 

Levi glares at him, "Don't be so disrespectful, Jaeger." He hisses.

 

"We're just here for the information." Mikasa speaks through her gritted teeth.

 

The smaller man rolls his eyes at the teens as Erwin speaks up, "Yes, we know how important this is for you. He called us, asking for something-" He pauses to look at Armin, "The book on demons that I gave you three."

 

"That's nice, but can you just give us the location he was calling from?" Eren was getting impatient.

 

Being fed up with Eren already Levi slid a piece of paper across the table, "There, can you stop being a brat now?"

 

Eren snatched it up and roughly pushed the chair out, turning on his heal he walked away. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you for your help." Armin quickly got up and went after the other boy. Mikasa stayed for a while longer staring down her relative before slowly getting up to follow the two boys.

 

Eren was in the driver's side with Armin getting in the passenger seat, Mikasa got into the back. The second she closed the door Eren slammed on the accelerator and sped out of the drive way and down the street. He needed to get to his father as soon as possible.

 

In the quiet of the car Armin was curled up in his seat, scrolling through his phone. He had decided to do a little investigation into the place they were heading to. He was right to do so. Pausing on one article he clicked on it and read through it. He flipped from the article to the photo of the map with the red crosses documenting the ritual killings. They formed a perfect X on the map, however the new murder didn't seem to fit at all. It lined up with one side of the original X but was much farther away from the others. the blonde looked up at Eren, he was so tense the boy wondered if bringing this up would be a good idea. But, it would help start their investigation into finding Grisha. Finding his voice was the difficult part, "I found something-" He started. Eren glanced at him and Armin continued, "The town Grisha is in had one of its own ritual killings. Should we start by checking that out, since your dad might be there for that because he's hunting the demons too." He rambled.

 

Eren took in a deep breath, "It's worth a shot."

 

The warehouse was sectioned off with tape, with only one officer standing outside the building. With a flash of their fake badges they duck under the tape in walk inside. No one was in there with them, which made things easier. Armin squatted down close to the symbol. It was drawn in the victim’s blood and consisted of a large outer circle, an inner structure that formed three heptagons, an upside-down pentagram with a smaller circle placed behind it. The shape was also labelled but the blonde couldn't make heads or tails of what it said. He got up and took a few photos with his phone, maybe he can find its meaning later. Next to him Mikasa leaned over and picked up a yellow substance, "It's sulphur, a demon was here." She gets up and dusts it off on her pants.

 

The teens could hear a group of footsteps coming together. They stand up straight, looking towards the entrance. Another group comes in, they look to be only a few years older than they are. The group was being led by a large blonde man, he was followed close behind a short blonde woman and a tall brunette. "Who are you?" The blonde man asks. From beside him the blonde woman glared at the trio, she was almost as terrifying as Mikasa, who didn't seem to like her one bit.

 

"I think we should be asking you that." Eren stepped in front of his friends, showing his ID.

 

He took one look at it and looked at the brunette boy with a raised eye brow, "Hunters?"

 

"How did you know?" Armin asked from barely peeking over the other boy's shoulder to see the trio in front of them.

 

"We're hunters too." the blonde man spoke for the group. "I'm Reiner, this is Bertholt and Annie. Are you here for the demon?" When Reiner said this Bertholt seemed to tense up, the man seemed to sweat too much for the average person.

 

"I'm Eren Jaeger and this is Armin and Mikasa." He gestured to each of them

 

"How did you-" Armin muttered to himself, which largely went unnoticed by the group.

 

"And we got here first, this is our hunt." Eren crossed his arms over his chest, he wasn't going to let anyone mess with their hunt. Not when they needed to find his father.

 

"These things can be dangerous, we can help you."

 

Eren thought of his mother, how he had wanted to go as a family. Maybe if there had been more of them she wouldn't have died. He reluctantly agreed to work with the other hunters, "Well we've already looked around here, so we should continue the search elsewhere."

 

"Oh, that's fine, we want to do some of our own research here, you go on ahead and meet us here later," Reiner handed over a motel card.

 

Eren took it from the man and stuffed it in his pocket, brushing passed him with the other two hunters in tow. On the way back to the car Armin pauses, looking up at what he thought was a camera. He walked closer, his friends watching him curiously. It was in fact a camera. He wondered if they could find the demon from the footage. He turns back to friends, at least they had something to go off of.

 

They had gotten new badges, so they were sure they wouldn't get caught again as long as no one recognised Armin. When they passed through the officer at the reception barely even noticed them, only acknowledging their existence with a nod. "Wow, they're so lazy." Eren complained

 

"Well at least we don't have to worry about people realising who I or we are." Armin calmly responded. He pulled up the video. On the grainy screen they watched as a man walked down the street and a woman followed close behind him. The police report had said that the victim was a man, so the demon must have been possessing the woman at the time. But, because of the poor quality the hunters couldn't make out the face of the woman, but they could tell she was short and had black hair tied up in a bun. Armin committed this to memory, he didn't know when this would be needed next. Without any useful information the teens left the station, no one had even noticed their departure. All they had to do now was meet up with the other three hunters and hope they found something to go off.

 

They pull up into the motel's parking lot, where the other hunters were gathered by a car. The trio get out of their own car and walk over to them. They straighten up when they see the teens coming their way, "We didn't find anything useful." Eren stated.

 

"Well, we have a clue," Reiner smirked. Next to him Bertholt seemed to be nervous, his eyes darting everywhere but the other hunters and the sweat poured off his skin. Although, Armin thought to himself, it did seem to be a part of his personality to be anxious all the time. "We have a lead on where the demon will be tonight. So, I think we should get going."

 

The trio followed close behind the car of the other hunters. When the other car stopped Mikasa followed suit and parked Carla's car. The street that they were led to was dark, no street lights or people were anywhere to be seen. It was completely dead, besides the hunters that had now gathered. "We should come up with a plan before we attack something as dangerous as a demon."

 

"What are you thinking?" Eren asks the blonde, who leaned in closer to tell them.

 

In the darkness of the street the teens waited. They waited for the demon to come. Then there it was, a single person walking down the streets alone, as Reiner said it would be. The demon was different from the one that was on camera, but demons could always possess new bodies, so the teens went on with their plan. Mikasa and Annie walked behind it, not too close but not far enough. Then the brunette whispered, "Christo." They stopped dead in their tracks, turning on their heel to look at the girls with its pitch black eyes. Flashing them a smile it came at them. The demon seemed to lock onto Mikasa, grabbing her and flinging her across the street. It casually walked over to her and grabbed her shirt, hitting her once then twice. She pulls her leg back and gives a swift kick to its stomach pushing the demon off of her. Annie came from behind with a bottle, dumping the contents on top of it. The demon hissed and withered and in the state of weakness Reiner and Eren pinned it to the wall.

 

With everyone in place Armin stepped out with the demon book in hand, "Are you the one doing all the killings?" He asked.

 

The demon laughed cruelly, "Me? No, I didn't get the pleasure of doing that."

 

"What?" Eren seethed, "Reiner I thought you said this was the one."

 

"I'm not sure I thought it was." The blonde man said through gritted teeth, "Just get rid of it." He looked over to Armin.

 

The blonde boy nodded and looks down at the book and begins, "Priinceps gloriosissime cælestis militiæ, sancte Michaël Archangele, defende nos in prælio et colluctatione, quæ nobis adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiæ, in cælestibusus. Veni in auxilium hominum, quos Deus creavit inexterminabiles, et ad imaginem similitudinis suæ fecit, et a tyrannide diaboli emit pretio magno." The demon flung its head back and black smoke burst out from the man's mouth and then fell to the floor, seeping into the cracks in the footpath. Something churned strangely inside him, that seemed too easy. He pushed the feelings aside and focused on the rest of the group.

 

The man fell limp in the two hunters’ arms, "Don't worry we'll take care of this from here." Reiner took him from the other hunter.

 

"Maybe we should come with you." Mikasa says coolly.

 

Eren raised an eye brow at her, "We have other things to, we don't have time." His voice is hard and cold. Armin frowns at the brunette, but he didn't say anything as he knew how important finding Grisha was for his friend. Without any more complaints Reiner turned and moved away from them. The trio stood back and watched the other three hunters leave with the man before they left to continue their search for Eren's father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to post more chapters during the holidays, but I just haven't had a lot of motivation lol. But, I was still able to get this up so I'm happy.   
> Anyway, I guess this chapter is 'Supernatural: The return of the plot'.  
> Love you guys and I hope you enjoy it <3


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the chapter and thank you all for reading! <3 <3

The trio walk back to their car, the other hunters were already gone. In the car they sat silently, “What do we do now?” Mikasa asked the other two

 

“We find Dad.” Eren responded to his sister.

 

“In the morning we should talk to the victim’s family,” Armin chimed in, “That’s what Grisha would have done- So, to find him we just need to follow his footsteps.” Mikasa nods and starts the car, they may as well get some rest after that fight.

 

Back at the motel Eren tossed and turned in his bed. He was so nervous about seeing his father soon and it didn’t help that he was sharing a bed with Armin. The blonde’s presence in the bed was prominent to Eren. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to sharing a bed with him, but after the genie incident it caused butterflies to bloom inside his stomach. All these feeling swirling inside him was starting to annoy the brunette, why did everything have to be so complicated? He asked himself. Hell was up to something and he was sure his father would know what to do, plus he had to struggle with having feelings for his best friend. Feelings that he couldn’t express because the situation they were in was fucked and it would be too dangerous. God knows how much Eren wished things would be calmer so maybe they had a chance to be together, but he had one. He had a wish and he took it back. Was it really the right decision? Yes, Eren reassured himself, it was the right decision because this way he could help save humanity from hell and be with the real Armin, even if it wasn’t how he wanted it to be. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes tight, ignoring everything rattling around inside his brain. He needed to sleep so they could find his father in the morning. He needs to sleep.

 

The morning came, and the teens were ready to finally find Grisha after all this time. They pile into Carla’s car and Mikasa drove them to the victim’s parents’ house. The trio walks up to the door and Mikasa knocks on it. A little old woman answers the door, “Can I help you?” She asks.

 

“Hello, we’re here to talk to you about the murder of your son.” Mikasa holds up her I.D.

 

The old woman frowns, “Do I really have to go over this again? I lost my son, I want to be alone.” A soft cry escapes her mouth.

 

“Was this one of the officers that came to talk to you?” Eren held up his phone with the picture of his father on the screen. She nods, rubbing her hand underneath her eyes. The brunette stuffs his device in his pocket, “Did he give you his number?”

 

The old woman steps into her house and gets a small card, passing it to the teens, “Why does this matter?”

 

“Don’t worry, we just need to contact our co-worker. Thank you for your time.” Mikasa nods to the woman.

 

The teens get back in the car and Armin takes out his laptop. Mikasa watches the blonde from the driver’s seat, while Eren looks over at the screen from his seat next to the other boy. Armin types the phone number that Grisha had given to the victim’s mother. He waits as the site load, which didn’t take long. On the map had a pulsating red dot on it showing where Eren’s father was. It showed that the older man was staying at a small motel quite far away from where the trio was hunting. Armin looks up and shows the brunette the map, without a word she turns back to the front and starts the car. They were on their way to see Grisha.

 

Anxiety was stirring inside Eren. He was finally going to see his father, he just wasn't sure if he was ready. All he could think of was Grisha from the genie's dream world. The hatred in his father's voice. But Eren had no choice. He had been searching for his dad for such a long time and he was the only one that would know what to do. He pushed the door slowly and quietly open and saw the man on the other side of the room, he faced away from the group. Eren clears his throat and his father turns around. His face sets into one of surprise as he lays his eyes on his children, then he sees the blonde standing beside Eren. Grisha's face falls into a very prominent frown, "Why is Armin here?" He asks his son with a very stern voice.

 

The blonde in question took a step forward, "I insisted on coming Mr. Jaeger."

 

Grisha didn't take his eyes off his son, "You know this is dangerous, both of you-" He gives a quick glance at Mikasa, "You shouldn't have brought him, it's not safe here." Grisha shakes his head, finally addressing Armin, "Your grandfather must be worried, lets finish this so we can get you home."

 

"What do you know? What should we do now?" Eren quizzes his father.

 

“I’ll tell you later- But know that nothing is as it seems, kids-” The older man waved off his son, brows furrowed as he thought, "Anyway, right now we need to focus on stopping the next ritual. The killings seem to be seeding up, whatever they're up to seems to be close to the end." Grisha rests his chin in between his thumb and index finger.

 

Armin nods along, "Yes, I think we might be able to predict the next location." He stuffs his hand into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He opens the map and zooms into the red marks on it. He gabs his finger at the last location of the killings. "The last one was here, if their following any sort of pattern than I think the next one will be here." The blonde moves his finger to the right, straight across and in line with the right side of the original X.

 

"You sure?" Grisha leans over to get a better look.

 

"Yes." Armin turns off the device and tucks it back in his pocket, "I'm not sure were the ritual will take place specifically."

 

Grisha walks pass the teens and out the door, they follow close behind the older man. Each get in their own vehicles. Now that they had Grisha Eren was sure this would end. His father would know what to do, he was sure of that. His dad followed behind their car. With Eren driving and Armin giving directions to the new location in the passenger seat. They stop their cars just outside the area, re grouping in a circle between their vehicles. "Now we need to find out where the ritual will take place." Eren spoke up, looking past the group and towards the town.

 

Armin watched him carefully, with his brows furrowed, still worried about his state of mind. He watched the other boy, the distant look in his eyes and the deep frown on his face. Armin was worried for him but was unsure when it might be best for him to bring it up, it sure wasn't now. He was so distracted watching and thinking about the brunette that he almost missed what Grisha said, "We know that the rituals usually do it in an abandoned building."

 

He looks away from Eren and gets his phone again, with a quick search he finds what he's looking for, "There's one abandoned warehouse near here."

 

Eren had seen the blonde staring at him, he could practically feel it on his skin. He wanted to look over and look back into his eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to do it when he had the chance. He knew he needed to focus on the task at hand. He can't think about the other boy, he can't let himself get off track. No matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much he wanted to be with him. Eren pushes his thoughts of the blonde to the back of his mind, letting himself to think about the hunt. If all goes well, he was sure they could finish this now. "What's the plan?" The brunette boy crosses his arms across his chest, finally moving his sight to his father.

 

"We set up a trap for the demon." Grisha answers his son. "I'll tell you kids more at the location." He turns on his heal and gets back in his car. The teens follow suit. Again, Eren drives Carla's car and Grisha follows close behind. They pull up to the building. There's a tall chain fence around the perimeter. Grisha climbs up the metal and threw his legs over. Mikasa followed, easily lifting her body up and propelling herself over the top. Eren kneels holding his hands out together, Armin puts his hand on the brunette's shoulder and steps on the boy's hands. Eren pushes up and the blonde over the fence, he follows the other boy soon after.

 

Armin smiles at Eren, looking up at the brunette boy through his eyelashes and his cheeks burning bright pink, "Thanks, Eren."

 

Eren stared into the other boy's eyes. He swallowed thickly, leaning slightly towards Armin, "Yeah, no worries." He mutters, too focused on the blonde in front of him. He had to hold himself back from reaching out and just caressing the blonde's face, brushing his hair behind his ear.

 

But their little moment was cut off by Grisha coughing, "Boys you can go back to it when we're finished."

 

Both boys don't pull away at first, as Eren just looks towards his father and sister, "Uh, yeah, okay." They follow to the front door. Mikasa turns around, lifting her leg up and thrusting it back kicking the locked door in.

 

The group walk in, "Alight, we're going to set up the devil's trap, salt the doors and windows and wait for the demon to come. We'll have to get them into the trap as quickly as possible." Grisha informs the group. The teens nod and get to work. With Grisha spray painting the trap, the teens grab a bag of salt each and create lines of salt to keep the demon in the space they want it in. They leave the front door alone as to not arouse suspicion from the demon. When they finished the group go outside and hide in the shadows to wait.

 

It was almost agonising. But the demon comes, and she looked like the footage they found. She was alone. But something was off, like the woman that was being possessed looked familiar. But they know they need to brush it off and follow her inside. She stood in the centre of the room, almost like she was waiting for them. She was. The demon swings around and smiles at the group of hunters. The groups' stomach drops as they realise who they were looking at. Her dark hair and blue eyes, the demon was possessing Carla.

 

She smiles, "Good to know you made it." Carla closes her eyes for a second and opens them once again flashing the group pure black eyes.

 

The group of hunters was paused in disbelief. How could she be here? Eren was sure his mother was dead, or so he thought. She was possessed by a demon.

 

Mikasa was the first to act kicking her in the chest and sent her backwards. The possessed Carla gets up off the floor, grinding her teeth the demon walks towards them. Only she runs into something, like an invisible wall. Slowly she looks up and her eyes land on the devil's trap, Carla sighs, "Really?" She asks flatly, unimpressed with the hunters. She closes her eyes and lowers her head and begins muttering. Each of the hunters looked between each other, Questioning what was going on, until the room started shaking.

 

"What the hell is going on?" Eren shouts to his father over what sounded like the building ready to collapse in on itself. Grisha looked panicked, he had no idea what was happening, he didn’t voice this to the children to keep up that they could rely on him.

 

Dust and debris started falling onto the hunters from the violent shaking then a large cracking sound travelled through the air. The hunters’ heads shot upwards and say the breaking of the ceiling above them. It travelled through the wood and over the devil's trap, breaking the seal that was holding the beast in, "Much better." Slowly Carla lifted her head with her black eyes on full display. She then lifted a single foot and tested if she could step over. Satisfied that she could, the demon moved out of the trap.

 

Although he didn't want to, Grisha swallowed hard and took out his knife. He charged at the demon with his weapon raised. Easily the demon grabbed him by his shirt and flung him against the opposite wall with a large bang. He was slumped there, leaving the teens to fend for themselves. Without hesitation she turns to the trio and slam her fist into Eren's jaw, he hit the ground with a thud.

 

Mikasa grits her teeth, with tears in her eyes she stepped forward. This thing was hurting her family and she just wouldn't take it. She was going to get that thing out of her mother and have her family back. All of them. She wasn't going to let anything else hurt the people she cared about, and she knew she was the only one that could do it. The brunette girl swings and the demon easily blocks it. The two women keep throwing hits and fighting, waiting for the other to give out. Mikasa was soon covered in a thin layer of sweat as she kept up the fight knowing that the demon will be able to do this for a long as she wanted to. Carla seemed at the end of her string, the brawl was no longer fun, and she just wanted it over with. With the flick of her wrist a piece of furniture was flung at Mikasa, pinning her to the wall. The brunette girl struggled to push it off her, but the wood just dug into her skin further. Armin stood there he had to step in, he thought. He took in a deep breath, with the demon distracted by watching Mikasa struggle he started, his voice shook, "Priinceps gloriosissime cælestis militiæ, sancte Michaël Archangele, defende nos in prælio et colluctatione, quæ nobis adversus principes et potestates,"

 

Carla stiffened and slowly turned on her heal, glaring at the blonde boy, "How dare you," Death was in her eyes as she started at him. The demon raised her hand to him and squeezed her fingers into a fist.

 

Armin's hands fly to his throat as it's constricted, unable to get in a breath. But he tried to keep going, to finish the exorcism, "adversus mundi rectores." His voice was strained as he used the last of his breath to spit the words out. It only caused the demon to tighten her grip and to lift him off the floor. The blonde sputtered as he so desperately tried to take in a breath, it just wasn't working. He couldn't breathe. He could feel his face being to tingle with pain as his eyes bulged out of his head.

 

Eren stagers to his feet, he couldn't let the demon hurt Armin. The brunette grabbed a wooden plank from the floor. He stumbles towards them. Raising the plank above his head, but he hesitated. Paused there, unable to move. He wanted to protect Armin, but he didn't want to hurt his mother. She was still in there somewhere, she could be saved. But if he didn't act now the blonde boy would die and he just couldn't bare that, he couldn't live without him. He brought the wooden plank down onto his mother's head, hitting her as hard as he could. The demon dropped Armin on the floor like a rag doll, the blonde lay still on the ground. Carla moved to face Eren, a stiff smile on her face, "How could you hurt your dearest mummy?" Her voice was sickly sweet but hid malice behind the tone. She reached out and took a hand full of his hair and smacked his head down onto the ground. She violently bashed his face into the ground repeatedly. Only stopping to let of his hair and to look up at Grisha, who was getting up off the floor.

 

She took a deep breath through her nose and rolled her eyes, why did they have to keep getting up? The demon asked herself. Before he could reach the knife, she grabbed it off the floor, his fingers only being able to brush the handle of the blade. She stood up and tapped the tip of the knife against her hand, "Well I need a sacrifice, and you have been causing me quite a few problems." She squats down next to the man and yanks his head back with a fist full of his hair. Mikasa's struggles intensifies as she desperately tries to get the furniture off her. Eren looks up, pain shooting through his head as he's forced to watch the following events play out but too weak to do anything. The possessed Carla presses the blade against Grisha's throat and drags it across. The older man looks to his children, in his last moments he wanted to see their faces. They were etched with anger and sadness, but he just wanted to remember when they were happy. Two beautiful children that he regrated abandoning. He should have trusted them to do this with him, he should never have left him. He regretted never getting to hug them one last time after not seeing them for so long. He let his own tears fall, he wished he had been able to tell them how much he loved them. Now he never would get to do that.

 

The two Jaeger kids felt their tears fall down their cheeks, with Mikasa tucking her head against her shoulder. She couldn't watch, she couldn't watch her second father die.  She had lost another family member and it was all her fault, she should have done something. But, Eren kept his eyes glued to his parents, his hot tears falling from his eyes. He was lost, but most of all angry. Angry that he couldn't do anything, angry at the demon possessing his mother. 

 

The demon stuck her fingers into Grisha's blood and started drawing the symbol and soon finished the ritual. Eren let his head fall back to the ground limply and sobbed into the rotting wood. Carla walked over to the boy and ran her fingers through his hair, as if she was trying to comfort the boy. It had the opposite effect, Eren jerked away, "Don't touch me!" He yelled, "Don't touch me." The second one was softer and muffled by a sob, but she got up and walked away. Walked out of the building, leaving her destruction behind her.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the chapter <3 <3

Armin came to, his vision blurry but he could hear someone crying. With a groan he lifted himself off the floor. With shaky arms he looked around the room. Everything was fuzzy for the blonde, but he could see Eren laying on the floor, his shoulder shaking. As Armin crawled towards the brunette, he took notice of the rest of the room. The symbol painted in the blood, the dead body of Grisha Jaeger. They had failed to stop the ritual. He failed his friends, he was so useless. Armin kept on his course towards Eren. When he got to the other boy the blonde sat back on his knees and pulled Eren into his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around him. Eren buried his face in Armin’s lap, holding onto him for dear life.

 

On the other side of the room Mikasa looked up to see the two boys. She pushed the furniture off her and stumbles over to them. She kneels and drapes her arms over the both of them. It was more in a protective manner than supposed to be comforting. When they started this Mikasa knew she couldn’t keep them safe, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted to, and now more than ever did she need to keep them safe.

 

The trio held onto each other in silence, it felt like they had been sitting there for hours. Until Mikasa realised that they needed to get somewhere safe. She pulls away and gets up, grabbing hold of each of the boys’ wrists and lift them off the floor, “Don’t fucking touch me, Mikasa.” Eren snaps at his sister. She drops his wrist but keeps a hold on Armin and pulls him out of the building with Eren trailing behind them. Opening the car door Mikasa gently pushing the blonde inside the vehicle and hesitantly takes a step aside and looks at the door as her brother gets in after Armin. She gets in the driver’s side and pulls away from the building Mikasa looks in the rear-view mirror, she regrets having to leave the body of her father behind, but they couldn’t take it with them. She moved her focus back to the road, she needed to keep driving. 

 

The red dirt was familiar as they pulled up to the hunter’s pub. To say Sasha was surprised to see the trio stumble into her pub all battered up was an understatement, she ran over to them and grabbed onto Mikasa’s upper arm, “What the hell happened?”

 

“I’ll tell you later” Mikasa looks to the two boys with her, “Right now I think we just need some rest.” Sasha nodded and lets them through behind the bar and up the stairs. From there the group split up, with the two boys going into one room and the girls going into Sasha’s bedroom.

 

Eren drops down on the bed, softly Armin sat down next to him. The brunette looked up his eyes landing on the angry red mark around the other boy’s throat. He looked away, diverting his eyesight to Armin’s shoulder. He felt guilty he felt like that was his fault. How could he even look the other boy in the eye? If he hadn’t hesitated, he could have done something. He could have stopped the blonde from being hurt, stopped his skin being marked up by that vile creature. Armin reached out and touched the side of Eren’s face, brushing his thumb against the developing bruise under the brunette’s eye, “You don’t have to do this on your own.” His voice was scratchy and no louder than a whisper, Armin winced slightly when he tried to get the words out of his mouth.

 

Eren wasn’t sure what to do, part of him wanted to move away from the other boy out of shame, but he also wanted to move closer and to hold onto him again. He tried to hold back but he rests his head on the blonde’s shoulder, tucking his face against Armin’s neck. The other boy run’s his fingers through Eren’s hair, knowing that he needed the comfort even if he didn’t want to vocalise his feelings right now.

 

Down the hall the Sasha sat on her bed while Mikasa stood in front of her, “Are you going to tell me what happened tonight?” She asked the brunette girl, who only shook her head in response, “Can I see where you were hurt?” Sasha continued her quizzing of the other girl. Mikasa took a deep breath and started to unbutton her plaid shirt to show the girl the long and thick red bruising around her stomach from where the furniture had pinned her against the wall. Sasha presses a hand to her mouth as she reaches out for the other girl. Gently running her fingers against the angry flesh, “Oh god, Mikasa. You need to be more careful-” The brunette girl moves closer to Sasha and she rests her forehead against her stomach, looking up at Mikasa, “Promise me that you’ll be more careful next time- Please promise me you’ll stay safe out there, hunting.” She begs.

 

Mikasa nods as she caresses Sasha’s face, “I promise.” Although she wished she could promise the other girl this she knew she couldn’t. When it comes to hunting anything goes, the people you love get hurt and killed and you can’t do anything about it. Mikasa watched as Sasha buries her face back against her belly, wishing she had made more than an empty promise.

 

The trio stayed with Sasha for a while, helping her run the pub. While Sasha and Mikasa took care of the bar, the two boys collected empty cups and bottles to clean up or throw away. With his fingers pressed on the rim of three glasses in one hand, Armin was stopped on his way back to the bar by a tall brunette girl. “What the hell happened to you?” Ymir asked, looking over the now patchy purple mark over the blonde’s neck.

 

Armin reached up to his throat with his free hand, brushing the sore skin there, “It’s a long story.” He finally answered the brunette girl.

 

Suddenly the blonde felt someone come up behind him, he looked over his shoulder to see Eren, “Is there something wrong?” He looks very pointedly at the girl in front of him.

 

She raises an eyebrow, looking over his face to see the deep purple bruise under his eye, “You must really suck at hunting, well at least you’re not dead.”

 

The brunette boy frowns at her, “What do you want exactly?” Mikasa walks out from behind the bar and towards the group, observing what was happening.

 

Ymir sighs as Historia joins the group, wrapping her arm around her girlfriend’s waist, “Well, we were wondering if you guys wanted to join us on a hunting trip.”

 

“Maybe we should go.” Armin suggested, knowing that Eren needs to get his mind off his father and getting a new hunt might be able to help him with that. Mikasa looked at both the boys and nods along with the blonde.

 

In the back of the car Armin read a few reports on the hunt. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at all. There wasn’t much information to gather. People seen going into an old abandoned boat in the shallows by the town, which was off limits for being too dangerous, and then when officers where sent out they would find only dead bodies of whoever went in. There was nothing else to it, he wasn’t sure how they were going to find out what’s been going on. They sat in silence until they showed up at the hunt.

 

They were driving behind Ymir’s car, she stopped outside a local bar. They grouped up under the dull single streetlight, they agreed to have a look around. The bar was packed with customers and the floor was sticky with the spilled drinks. The teens had to elbow their way through the crowd, splitting up in hopes to find someone that might be able to shed some light on the situation.

 

The two blondes had gone off to search together, “Uh, how did you meet Ymir?” Armin asked her.

 

Historia glanced at him, “Ymir was on a hunt and well she saved me-” She paused and looked down at her feet, “I didn’t really have any friends or family, so I decided to go with her. It’s just us, but I’m happy with her even if this job is dangerous- How about you and Eren?”

 

“We met when we were kids- He was raised a hunter, when he decided to go hunting on his own, I tagged along.”

 

The shorter blonde smiled at him, “Aw, childhood sweethearts!”

 

Armin’s eyes widen and his cheeks burn bright red, “No! - No, we’re just friends.” He stammered. She laughs lightly as the two of them continue into the bar.

 

Mikasa goes through the crowd alone, a strange man eyes her from a table a few steps away from her. She walks over and drops into the seat next to him, “Hey,” Her voice was flat and feeling less.

 

“Come here often?” He asks the brunette girl.

 

“The abandoned boat- What can you tell me about it?”

 

“Oh, come on don’t ruin the mood.” He reaches out and tries to brush Mikasa’s hair behind her ear.

 

The brunette grabs his wrist, “I don’t care, what can you tell me about it?” She starts to squeeze and dig her nails into his skin.

 

“They say the thing is haunted by the ghosts of the ones that worked on it.” He yanks his hand free of her grasp, “Fucking crazy.” He muttered and got up, disappearing into the crowd.

 

Mikasa couldn’t care less about the rest of what he said to her, all that mattered was that she had an idea of what was going on and she needed to find the others. The brunette finds the other hunters and was able to drag them all outside and relay the message she got from the man at the table. “Can we just go and have a look to get this over with.” Ymir says as she goes to the trunk of her car, getting her shot gun out. The trio couldn’t agree more with her as they got into Carla’s old car. The drive over to the boat was quick.

 

Climbing up the ladder onto the boat was unnerving. The metal felt weak, it creaked under their feet and shook slightly as they dragged their bodies onto the deck. Once all of them were on top of the boat Historia and Armin switched on their torches. They go in, Mikasa leading the group, blondes behind her, their flashlight directed over each of the tall woman’s shoulders. Behind the blonde’s was their respective brunette. The group was squished in close to each other as the halls were small, they moved slowly looking for an activity. Mikasa stops abruptly as she steps into the cold salty sea water that had flooded the boat. The other teens promptly bumped into her. The brunette continued, the water soaking through their shoes and socks as they wade into it. The metal screeched as the sea wind pushed against the boat, the cool water helping to chill the hunters to their bones in the freezer that is the ship.

 

The light from one of the torches catches something, it moves into a room that comes off the hall they were walking in. Mikasa stops the group and raises her gun. He slides over to look inside the room, the rest of the hunters follow leaning over to look inside along with her. They pause when they see it. They weren’t sure if it was a ghost, because it sure didn’t look like one. Its form was bloated with yellow fluid leaking from its eyes and nose, skin a pattern of greens and yellows, with a pungent smell of decaying flesh coming off it. Mikasa pulls the trigger and shoots it full of rock salt. Nothing happened, not even a flinch. Mikasa set off rapid shots blowing multiple holes into the flesh of the creature, still nothing. It starts stumbling towards the group. Mikasa steps to the side and the brunettes push past the two blondes and start firing off shots. It kept coming at them. No matter how much rock salt they hit it with it was unaffected.

 

From the darkness another emerged. Mikasa shoved Eren with the palm of her hand and the rest of the group turns to run. The brunette girl turns back to look into the ship halls. She frowns as more of these things comes start to pour out of the ships’ depths. She stops and hits one, it hits the ground and splashes the teens. It doesn’t stop the onslaught of the creatures, the group tries to fight them off to buy time, but they just keep coming. Mikasa hits another one to the ground and turns to the others, “Go! Go!” She screams. It was a race against these things and every time the brunette girl looked back, they seemed to get closer to them. Panic started to rise inside the hunters, they weren’t sure they would even make it out alive. Their legs ached as they ran through the halls of the boat. They saw the door and threw themselves through the opening, the hunters falling the ground and ending up in a pile on the deck. The hunters scrambled up off the floor. Ymir picked up Historia and threw her off the side of the ship before jumping off the side. The other three hunters followed soon after. Amin fell on his back, the sea water hitting him in the face. Eren grabbed hold of the blonde boy and pulled him close to his body.

 

They stumbled away soaking wet and frozen to the bone. Mikasa looked back to the boat, whatever was in there didn’t follow them outside the door. She turned back to look at the other hunters, Ymir had wrapped herself around her girlfriend, “What the fuck was those things?” She growled, tucking Historia’s head against her chest.

 

“I’m not sure.” Eren wasn’t focused on the other but on the blonde boy who sat on the hood of their car. He hesitates to touch him, but Armin reaches out and grabbed his hand. The brunette looks up his arm to his shoulder, letting his eyes graze over the violent purple bruising around his throat. With his gaze lingering on his neck Armin ducks his head down to meet the other boy’s eyes.

 

Ymir frowns, “Right now isn’t the time for eye sex, alright?” If it was even possible the girl pulled her girlfriend even closer to her.

 

Armin drops Eren’s hand, the brunette’s heart seemed to drop with his hand. Missing the feeling of the other boy’s fingers on his skin, his thoughts drift to the genie’s world. He just couldn’t help it, he wanted the freedom to be in love with that boy without the fear of the supernatural. Armin ignores the look that Eren gave him and spoke up to the other hunters, “Oh right- Well I don’t think any of us know what it was, but with some research we can find out.”

 

Ymir flopped onto one of the beds, “So, what was it? Some kind of zombie?” She drops her head to the side to look at Armin, who sat on the other bed with his two friends.

 

The blonde boy sighed heavily, “I don’t know- I guess. Even if it is there’s too much lore on them for me to find something conclusive.”

 

“Then what do you suggest?” Historia sat down next to her girlfriend and ran her fingers through her short brunette hair.

 

“Well- I think the easies thing that I’ve read online is to behead them and set them on fire.”

 

Ymir shot up and looked at the other blonde like he was crazy, “Set them on fire?! How would we do that it a fucking boat filled with water?!”

 

“Calm down.” Mikasa looks at her with a dead look and a stern voice.

 

“Maybe we should try cutting off their heads-” Armin looked at each of the hunters sheepishly.

 

When night fell they drove up to the boat again. With machete in hand each of the teens climb up onto the boat once again and into the darkness of the ship they went. The air was thick as they moved into the depths of the halls waiting for when they would find one of the creatures. Mikasa’s toes touch the water she knew that they were closes. They kept their footsteps small to keep the noise from the water splashing to a minimum. Mikasa lays eyes on it, the creature from the other night. She doesn’t hesitate to swing her blade. Its head hits the water with a splosh. They waited for a movement, when nothing happened, they were sure that the beheading worked. They stepped over the body and moved deeper inside. They found more of them, many more of them, each teen having to behead them. It was hard work and soon they were soaked with sea water and yellow puss from the creatures. The rest of the evening was spent dragging the bodied out and dumping them in a pile. Spraying flammable liquid all over the bodies and threw the match on top of the mound of rotting flesh. It burst into flame. The teens warmed their frigged fingers over the flames, trying their hardest to not breath through their noses as the smell of burning flesh was strong and overwhelming.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uni is back in now, since it's early days updating will still be easy (At least it should be). Thanks for reading :D
> 
> Enjoy the chapter <3

Eren couldn’t seem to be able to get any sleep, something inside him just wasn’t letting him. He rolled over and looked at the blonde sleeping beside him, guilt swirled in the pit of his stomach. He eyed the bruise around the other boy’s throat. He couldn’t really see it in the low light, but it had turned patchy shades of yellow and green, soon the mark would be a distant memory. At least for Armin, but not for him. Eren will still be the reason the blonde was hurt.

 

He couldn’t stand the constant tossing and turning. The brunette boy shot out of bed and picked up Armin’s laptop. He set it on his lap and started searching for a new hunt, the sooner he’s able to get his mind off everything. Soon the morning sunlight started to pour through the motel curtains. Mikasa stirred in the bed beside the boys’ own bed. “Morning.” Eren grumbled, the lack of sleep evident in his features.

 

“Have you slept?” Mikasa scratched at her head, although she was sure she didn’t really need to ask.

 

“It doesn’t matter- I found us a hunt, lets go.”  

 

The trio duck under the police tape and walk into the house. They didn’t have to look far to find the victim. She was laying on the sofa, almost like she was asleep. Her skin was pale, her left arm dangled over the edge. Blood trickled down her arm from a bite mark from her neck to her hand and dripped from her fingers onto a puddle on the wooden floor. “What can you tell us about what happened?” Mikasa looks away from the woman’s body to ask.

 

“Someone broke into her place, nothing was stolen just the murder.” The officer answered.

 

Another man walked in and looked at the teens, “There’s another one of your guys here.” He promptly walked away.

 

The hunters looked between each other, ready to flee the scene. They paused when a teen their own age walked into the house, they recognised the dirty blonde hair in an instant. “What are you doing here, Jean?”

 

He smirked, he looks over the beaten-up group of hunters, “Oh man what happened to you guys?”

 

“We got here first, this is our hunt.” Eren growled at the other boy.

 

Jean’s eyes look over the bruising around the brunette’s eye, “Well it seems like you need me on this one.” He laughed

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He clenched his fists and took a step forward.

 

“Everyone knows you’d be dead if it wasn’t for your sister and lover boy.” The other hunter scoffs. Armin’s cheeks dusts pink at the thought of what Jean said.

 

Eren freezes up, in that moment he felt too close and too far way from the other boy all at the same time. He wanted to be close to the blonde, but after everything that happened he felt like he didn't deserve the affection. This made the space between them torture for Eren. He swallowed hard and moved slightly away. Armin feels like his heart breaks as the other boy moves away, he hurt that Eren seems to be drifting away from him and he just couldn’t bare it. The way he can’t maintain eye contact with him, how he hesitates to touch him like he used to. He was slowly drifting away, and Armin wasn’t sure of what to do any more. “Step off Jean.” The brunette boy seethes.

 

Jean laughs cruelly as he was going to continue taunting the other boy, but Mikasa cuts in, “We can do this together, it never hurts to get more help alright?”

 

Eren frowns at her, “Mikasa, I don’t need you to step in for me.” He grits his teeth and storms off to look at another area of the crime scene. The other three hunters watched him as he stomped off like a child.

 

Eren was pissed, really pissed. Did it have to be Jean, right now that was what he wanted least. God, why him? After everything that has happened why did it have to be Jean? Eren sulked for a while longer, looking over the victim’s photos that decorated their living room bookshelf.

 

Armin pulls his gaze away from the other boy and looks back at the woman laying dead on the sofa, he squats down next to her to get a better look at the bite mark on her neck. “Think it could be a vamp?” Jean’s calm voice breaks through the silence, his warm breath tickling the back of his neck.

 

“A what?” Armin glances over his shoulder to see the other blonde boy close behind him.

 

“A vamp- You know what that is right?”

 

The smaller blonde uses both of his hands to tuck loose hair behind his ears, “No, I’ve never heard of the term before.”

 

Jean looks over the boy, “How long have you been hunting again? Never mind- A vamp is short for vampire.”

 

“Oh- That should’ve been obvious.” Armin laughs slightly. This catches Eren’s attention, Jean was really getting on his nerves already. First, he had the guts to exist anywhere near him and now he’s trying to flirt with Armin. He just couldn’t deal with this right now.

 

Eren feels a hand rest on his shoulder, “Careful, you might burn holes in him.” Her voice was calm, but the brunette boy snatched him shoulder away from her and turns his back on her.

 

The hunters didn’t stay for much longer at the scene, they split up and Mikasa drove the two boys back to the motel they were staying at, “I- Uh, will be back with something to eat.” She sticks her head out the window, she was very cautious giving Eren a very nervous look before she takes off leaving the two of them behind.

 

The boys slowly walk into their room and Armin drops onto one of the beds while Eren paces back and forth in front of him. “Are you okay?” The blonde reaches out and grabs hold of the other boy’s wrist.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, Armin.” Eren’s voice came out a little too harsh, but he didn’t stop to think about it too hard.

 

“No, you’re not- Maybe it’s time we talk about it?” His anxiety made it sound like he was asking a question, but he was trying to demand a conversation.

 

“Maybe I don’t want to talk about it- So just fucking leave it alone.”

 

Armin looked away, a predominant frown on his face. All he wanted was to help Eren, he was so important to him and didn’t want the latest events to keep hurting him. Why couldn’t Eren see that? That all the blonde wanted was for him to let him help. To let the blonde in and be there for him. “Fine-” He trailed off, scooting up the bed and away from Eren. The brunette opened his mouth, but he immediately closes it and sits on the other side of the room.

 

They wait in silence until Mikasa came back, Jean was with her. Dropping the plastic bag on the table, “There was another killing in the area, you guys want to check it out?” The brunette girl questioned the boys.

 

Eren stood up, “Yeah, yeah- Lets go.” He was tense when he walked out of the room. As her brother walked past her Mikasa gives Armin a questioning look. The blonde shook his head and walked past her, with Mikasa following behind him. In the parking lot of the motel Eren got into the front seat, gesturing for the other hunters to get in. Jean jumped at the chance to get in the seat beside his rival. Both Mikasa and Armin exchange another looks as they take their seats in the back of the car.

 

They pulled off to the side of the road where there was police cars and officers. There was another car there, the front door still open as the officers looked inside. The teens get out of their vehicle and showed the others their IDs. One of the men gestures for them to follow, they walk through a small number of trees and come out on the other side where the crime scene was.  A man lay on the ground in a muddy puddle. Jean knelt next to the body and pushes the head to the side, he looks up to the other hunters, “Another bite mark.” He gets back up from the dirt and takes a few steps back.

 

Mikasa raises her hand to gesture them leaving before making their way back through the trees and to the car. Eren starts up the car as Jean spoke up to the rest of the hunters, “I need a drink, so, how about we go to a bar and talk about what to do?”

 

In the bar Eren sat alone on a stool, sipping on a beer. Jean stumbled up to him, his own beer in his hand, he had obviously already had too much to drink. “What’s up with you, asshat?” His words weren’t slurred, Eren thought that must be some sort of achievement for the drunken teen.

 

“I’m fine, just leave me alone.” He grumbles, Eren really wasn’t in the mood right now.

 

Jean shrugged his shoulders and walks off to the other side of the pub. He moved towards the table that Mikasa and Armin sat at. The two other hunters leaned in close together whispering about something, something Jean couldn’t hear. “What happened at the motel?” Mikasa asked, her eyes darting to the boy in question at the bar.

 

Armin took in a breath, “He’s just angry about everything that’s happened. We just need to be there for him right now.” The blonde pulled away from the girl when Jean plopped himself down next to him.

 

“What are you two talking about?” The dirty blonde leans over and rests his head on top of Armin’s.

 

The smaller boy frowns up at him as Mikasa spoke up, “It was nothing important.”

 

“Well, what do you guys suggest we do with the vamps?” Jean pulls away and instead rests his elbows against the table. The teens pause as a group of people come into the pub. They’re rowdy as they fill up the bar with their screeches, nocking things over and go over the bar and start screaming their orders. Jean raises an eyebrow and looks at the other hunters, “Do you think they could be?”

 

Mikasa shrugs, “We can’t be sure unless we see their fangs.”

 

“Maybe there’s a way for us to find out.” Armin gets up.

 

The brunette girl grabs his wrist, “What are you doing?”

 

“Just trust me, Mikasa.” He pleads. She lets go of the boy and drops his wrist, nodding letting Armin go.

 

The blonde boy walks towards the group, he flashes a smile at the group. One of the men apart of the group grabs a hold of Armin’s upper arm, “And what’s a cutie like you all alone at a bar like this?”

 

Armin giggles, “Just getting a drink.” The sound of his voice grabbed the attention of the brunette at the bar, he watched the two with the beer in his hand. Raising his eyebrow suspiciously at the interaction, he decided to continue watching the two of them for the rest of their interaction.

 

“Well I think I can help with that.” The man trailed his hand down the blonde’s arm, taking a tight grip of his wrist. “How about we get out of here?” He leaned in close to Armin.

 

“Yeah I would like that.” The small boy tried to stop himself from cringing of the breath of the man, he stunk of alcohol and something metallic. He continued forward with his plan.

 

Armin laced his fingers through the larger man and lead him out of the back door of the pub. The blonde let go of the man’s hand and backs away from him. “Come on, don’t be a tease.” The man growled. Armin reached into His back pocket and took hold of the object inside. He pulls out the small knife and holds it against his other palm, dragging the blade across his skin. The blood dribbles down his forearm. The man standing in front of him snarled and opened his mouth, sharp fangs emerge from his gums. They were sharp like needles and looked like a second row of teeth over the top of his other teeth. The vampire lung towards Armin and pins him against the pub’s dumpster. He grabs the blonde by the hair and yanks his head to the side. Before he can sink his fangs into the hunter’s neck someone grabs hold of the man and throws him away from Armin. 

 

When the blonde looks up to see who saved him, Armin saw Eren standing before him. The brunette took a blade from his hip and stabbed it through the vampire’s neck, sawing back and forth to take off the head. The teen looked back to the other boy, “Go inside, I’ll deal with this.” Eren takes Armin’s hand and walks him to the door, opening it and shoving him inside. Before the smaller boy could even get a word out of his mouth the larger boy closed the back door.

 

Armin walked over to the table and sat down with the other hunters, “Yeah, it’s definitely a vampire.”

 

“What should we do now?” Mikasa looks between the boys at the table, “And where’s Eren?”

 

“He’s still outside with the dead-” Armin paused and looked over to the group of vampires.

 

Jean got up from where he was sitting, “I’ll go out and stay with him, you guys watch the vamps from inside.” The hunter walks away from the group and outside the pub. Jean eyed the other teen as he leaned on the wall, his clothes were soaked with red and he looked distant. “What’s up with you?” He stood next to the other hunter, looking off into the darkness of the night.

 

“Nothing that concerns you.” Eren grit out.

 

“Ah, having boyfriend problems?” Jean laughs to himself.

 

“He’s- not my boyfriend.” He muttered out, sulking further.

 

The larger boy raises an eyebrow, “So, he’s single.”

 

“Fuck off, Jean.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’m joking. I know he’s yours.” Jean snorted and looked over to the other boy, who’s cheeks are glowing bright red. The hunter rolls his eyes at Eren.

 

Jean was about to continue his teasing of the other boy when the other two hunters came out of the pub door, “They’re getting ready to leave, we need to follow close behind.” Mikasa informs the two other boys. She grabs Armin’s wrist and pushes on Eren’s shoulder, leading the group into the darkness away from the entrance of the pub.

 

The group of vampires exit the building. The hunters watch as the group get into their own cars and drive off. Following close behind the group make sure not to be seen by the vampires but also not far enough to lose them. The vampires lead them back to a run-down building outside the town. It was in the middle of nowhere, nothing was around it other than trees. Mikasa parks their vehicle off to the side of the building as to keep it hidden from anyone that might look out the window. Once out of the car the hunters watch the building for a few minutes before they start to discuss a plan.

 

They waited until morning, which is when Mikasa handed out machetes to each of the other hunters before they poured dead man’s blood over them. Armed and ready the hunters start their attack. The begin by checking the surroundings. When Mikasa deemed that it was clear the group went in. The building was full of the sleeping forms of the vampires. They step over the bodies. Each of them raises their weapons and hack down onto the vampires’ heads. Three hunters lopped off their victims’ heads easily, however Armin struggled. His vampire jolted awake and started screaming alerting the others sleeping around it _._ The creatures all got up and started hissing at the hunters. It was all out battle. The hunters swinging blades and slicing up the creatures. A vampire was coming up behind Jean while he was busy with another one. “Jean, watch out!” Armin called, but the other boy didn’t take notice. There was only one thing he could do, he swung the machete hard and caught the vampire in the neck and slicing deep into the flesh. It drops to the ground, Armin looks up from the body to look at Jean with a smile.

* * *

 


	21. Chapter Twenty-one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a little late because I've been invited to work on a fan game. So since it's a group project it will be taking my priority for a while. I'll keep writing this fic when I have the time, it won't be abandoned but chapters will come out late. 
> 
> Thanks for dealing with the delay <3 Enjoy the chapter <3

Eren puts the newspaper down and looks up at the other two hunters sitting in front of him, “There were a few strange disappearances near here, no bodies have been found.”

 

Mikasa pushed some food around on her plate, “Is there any sign that there is anything supernatural going on?”

 

“When is it not something supernatural, Mikasa?” The brunette’s voice was harder than he intended for it to be.

 

She shrugs, “If you’re sure.” The brunette girl gets up and the two boys followed her out the fast food place.

 

The hunters pull up to the police station and walk inside, flashing the receptionist their IDs, “Can you show us all the files on the open kidnapping cases.” Eren asks flatly. The officer nods, getting up from his seat to show them where to find the case files. The teens sit down and open the folders, buried in papers they start searching for any proof that there was anything supernatural related to the crimes.

 

Mikasa throws her file down onto the table, “Eren, I don’t think this is anything supernatural.”

 

Eren grits his teeth, “Well I got a feeling about this one. There has to be something.”

 

Armin gets up and walks over to the brunette, sitting down beside him and resting a hand gently on his shoulder, “I know you are desperate for a hunt, but we can look for one somewhere else.”

 

Eren looked up at the blonde, “Just trust me, there’s something going on here.” He pleads. He just needed something, anything, to keep his mind off everything. He failed his father, he’s failing the whole world and he can’t help but push away everyone around him in his grief. He just wasn’t sure how to express his hurt other than through anger.

 

Armin sighed, “Alright, we’ll keep looking.” He rubbed the other boy’s shoulder before he gets up and starts looking again.

 

Mikasa fiddles with the paper, curing the corners, “Let’s just check where the victims were last seen.” She states. The other two nod in agreement and the group walk out of the building, tossing their hand up to say goodbye to the receptionist on their way out.

 

The brunette girl drove them to where all the kidnappings took place. It was a large forest, which covered a large part of land. It was populated with thin dry looking trees and crusty feeling grass, almost like it was all dead. They didn’t bother going into the thick trees as they just wanted to have a quick look around. There wasn’t anything suspicious that they could see from the road. “Maybe we should ask some of the family members of the people taken?” Armin asked, he was puffing as they hiked up the road.

 

Mikasa stopped to wait for the blonde, “mm- Maybe we should talk to some of them before taking a closer look in there.”

 

The hunters turn on their heal and make their way back to the car. Their first stop was to check the latest victim’s family. The drive wasn’t far, the car stopped at a small house. They knocked on the door, a small young woman answers, “Hello?” She rubs the back of her hand under her nose.

 

“Hello, miss. Brown, we’re here to ask a few questions about the abduction of your brother.” Mikasa lifted her ID to show the woman.

 

The woman stepped aside and let the hunters into her house. They sit down at the dining table and she pushes her lips in a into a thin line, “I saw it, him being abducted- We were hiking through the forest, and it was all so sudden. This massive man-” She paused slightly as she thought about how to describe it, “He was large, tall and- he smelt horrible. I couldn’t tell you much else, he came out of nowhere and he hit me, I blacked out. When I woke up my brother was gone.” Tears started to spill down her cheeks as she furiously rubbed at her eyes to stop them falling.

 

“I’m so sorry-” Armin reached out and squeezed the woman’s free hand, he wanted to say more he just wasn’t sure what to say. The blonde decided to leave it alone and pulled his hand away from her.

 

Mikasa nods, getting up, “Thank you for your time, miss. Brown.” The other teens got up and followed the brunette girl. She opened the car door, “I don’t know, Eren, it sounds like a normal abduction to me. Just some wack job kidnaping people.” Mikasa gets in the front seat.

 

“Mikasa.” Eren said as he got in the back seat of the car, “I can just feel it, there’s something going on here.”

 

The brunette girl looks at her brother through the rear-view mirror and then to Armin, who gave her pleading eyes. She thought back to their conversation at the bar, taking a deep breath before speaking, “Alright, Eren, I trust you.” She starts the car.

 

Mikasa took them back to the forest, thinking that maybe if Eren got a better look at the place he might realise that there’s nothing supernatural going on. That her brother was just being paranoid. The group got out of the car and hiked up the road, moving into the forest. They went deep into the woods to find the area where the last abduction took place. Eren started to look for cluse for what they were dealing with immediately, while his sister stood and waited for him to notice that he was looking for nothing. It was when she started to take notice of the pounding on the floor, something large was running at them.

 

Mikasa looks up and starts to move away from the boys to find out what the hell was running at them. She hardly had anytime to react when something large barrels into her, knocking her against a tree. With the sound of the thwack of Mikasa’s body hitting the tree the boys ran over to her. A large man was standing over her, he was definitely not a normal man. He was tall, muscular, a large bald head and a thick neck. He was breathing heavily and squeezing then un-squeezing his massive hands. Eren noted that everything about him was large, he was like a giant.

 

The brunette girl got up on shaking legs as her brother jumped on the back of the man. Locking his arms around the man’s neck. He backs up and starts hitting him against the tree, over and over, trying to get the boy off him. Armin wasn’t sure of what to do, he had no weapons, but he tried. Hitting the thing with his small fists, the large man smacked the other boy across the face. He was flung away from the scene, hitting the ground hard. Just as Armin hit the ground Eren let go of the monster, messily crawling along the forest floor towards the blonde. The beast went to throw a fist down onto the brunette boy’s back, but before he could do that Mikasa rushed him. She threw her entire body weight at the man, only succeeding in causing him to stumble a bit. The girl falls on her ass as the beast turns to her. He reaches down and grabs her by the throat with one enormous hand. Mikasa starts scratching at his hand and kicking his chest in hopes he would let go.

 

Eren gets to the blonde and he pulls him into his lap, but Armin pushes off the other boy, “Mikasa!” He yelled. The girl’s legs stopped moving and the beast threw her limp body over its shoulder. The man walked off, the earth shaking under its feet. Armin struggled to get up, but Eren pulled him down against him and the other boy let him. The blonde knew that they were out matched and had to come back later to help her. Armin curled into the brunette’s chest, Mikasa was just as much of a big sister to him as she is to Eren.

 

When the brunette boy was sure the beast was gone, he let his arms loosen around the blonde boy. Armin crawled up Eren and wrapped his arms around the other boy’s neck, hugging him close. Eren tighten his own hug once again, softly rocking the other boy back and forth. “We should go now, Armin.” Eren whispers. The blonde nods, letting the other hunter get up and pulling the smaller boy with him.

 

Mikasa was groggy, it was dark wherever she was. She started to push herself off the ground, her fingers digging into the wet soil. The brunette girl was breathing hard as she sat up on her knees, looking around the small room. There was someone else with her, but it wasn’t the monster. Whoever it was whimpered in the corner of the room. Mikasa waited for her eyes to adjust to the inkiness. When she looked around, she realised that she was in a very small dirt room, she wondered if it was built under the ground. The brunette girl looked to the corner where the crying was coming from. It was a man, he was curled up and covered in dirt. She moved closer and he lifted his head, he was the last man that was abducted. That woman’s brother. The beast had taken her back to it lair, and she needed to get the hell out of there.

 

Back at the car Armin sat in the front seat, with Eren sitting on the hood of the car. Both boys pouring over the books Armin had collected over the time he had been hunting. The flipped through the pages, “Ah! I think I got something!” The blonde boy jumped out of the car and scrambled onto the hood next to the brunette. On his knees he pointed at the page, Eren scooted closer to read along with Armin, “It’s an ogre- They’re large and ugly. Very fowl creatures. With superhuman strength, which makes them very dangerous-” Armin pauses as he continues to skim over the words, “All it says is that it has to be killed like any normal person, it’s powers will just make it more difficult.”

 

“Well, do we know how to find it?” Eren muttered as he looks over the page.

 

“I don’t know, but we better do it quickly- Ogre’s eat the people they capture.” Armin slid off the hood of the car and threw the book back in the car. Both boys rushed to the trunk to get as many weapons as they could possibly carry.

 

Mikasa shuffles over to the man and reaches out to touch him. The man flinched and she pulls her hand away instantly, “It’s alright Mr. Brown, I’m here to save you-” Mikasa pauses and looks around the room, she was surprised that he was alive. It didn’t matter, she needed to calm him down, “Or at least I was.”

 

He weakly looked at her, “We’re going to die.” Mr. Brown’s voice was shaking and his throat sounder dry.

 

“No, I won’t let that happen- Plus I have friends that are coming for me.” Mikasa was sure she was reassuring but something nagged at her that she wasn’t doing it right.

 

The floor started to shake slightly as something pounded on the ground. The man started to whimper and scramble over to Mikasa, grabbing hold of her and hiding behind the hunter, “H- He’s coming back for us. We’re going to die, like the rest of them!”

 

Mikasa looked to what seemed to be a door to the room they were in, not taking her eyes off it, “The rest of them?” She asked in a low voice.

 

He tucked his head against Mikasa’s shoulder, his eyes only peeking over her, “The other ones that were here.” He almost cried out.

 

The boys ran through the trees as fast as they could, Eren held tightly onto Armin’s wrist making sure he was able to keep up. They were armed to the teeth and ready for a fight. The two of them came across a mound of dirt that was fashioned into a home, smoke was raising from the makeshift chimney signalling that someone was home. The hunters drop to the ground and watch the ogre’s lair. They start to creep through the tall grass and weeds in the yard, watching the house. There was movement inside, “We should go in now, we don’t know how long Mikasa has.” Armin whispers to Eren.

 

They keep down low as they rush forward. Eren kicks the door in, catching the attention of the ogre. It turns its large ugly head, it’s hand on an open door. Armin leans over and sees Mikasa on the floor inside.

 

Eren pulls his trigger and shots at the beast. While it was distracted Mikasa grabs the man with her and makes a run for it. The ogre quickly turns and smacks Mr. Brown. The brunette girl is yanked back as the man hits the ground. Eren shoots again, it almost seemed to bounce off the ogre’s skin. It charges at the boy and Armin runs off to the side of the beast to His friend and the victim. He passed Mikasa his weapons, “Here, take them.” He said as he grabbed the man and dragged him out of the ogre’s house.

 

Mikasa got up and unsheathed the sword throwing the leather sheath to the side. She twirled the weapon in her hand as she runs at the ogre, who was distracted by trying to smash Eren to a pulp. The brunette boy was diving away and trying not to die when his sister jumped the beast. Mikasa screamed as she plunged the blade deep into the ogre’s back. The brunette girl dropped from where she stabbed the creature. It stumbled back slightly before falling forward. Armin grabbed Eren’s wrist and dragged him out from the ogre’s collision course. The brunette held onto the blonde boy while Mikasa walked over to pull the blade out of the brute’s back.  The hunters looked out the door to the man curled up on the floor, they had gotten there in time.


	22. Chapter Twenty-two

It had been months since the trio heard anything from Hanji or Levi and Erwin. Months since they saw Carla was possessed, months since she killed Grisha. Now Eren was beginning to get anxious about what was happening. 

 

Armin watches him from where he sat across from him, with Mikasa looking up from what she was reading every so often at her brother. They were both worried about him, but unsure about how to ask about it. However, Eren saw it differently. He thought they were too calm, too relaxed with the situation. They should be just as worked up as he was, Eren thought. Did they not care? All the brunette knew was that hell was making plans, war was coming, and he had to stop it. If he had to do it all on his own, he would do it. Eren got up and walked out the motel door, pacing the outside will dialling up Hanji’s number. Armin follows the brunette outside and takes hold of Eren’s wrist, gently pulling the device away from his face. “Come back inside, when they hear anything, they’ll call us.”

 

Eren pulled his hand away, “No. Our only hope was my father- And he’s dead.” He looked away, brows knitted together, frowning at the floor.

 

The blonde boy moves his hand up to the other boy’s chin and lifts his head up slightly to have Eren look him in the eyes, “Well sitting around and waiting isn’t helping either. We may as well go on a hunt. When we’re done there might have been some development.”

 

Even with his face being held to look towards the blonde, Eren couldn’t let himself look him in the eye. How could he do that when he was such a failure. How could he look at him when all he wanted was to kiss him, something the brunette couldn’t do not with everything going on. He took a deep breath and let his eyes settle on Armin’s neck, the skin now healed but Eren could still see what he caused whenever he closed his eyes. His father was right this whole time. He shouldn’t have gone after Grisha and Carla, if he had just stayed out of it maybe his dad would still be alive right now. Most of all he should have made Armin stay with his grandfather, where it was safe. However, he brought Armin into this and he has been hurt because Eren. He really was the worst hunter, absolutely pathetic, Eren thought to himself.

 

Armin trailed his hand down from the other boy’s chin to his shoulder, “Come on, Eren, lets go back inside- There isn’t anything we can do right now.”

 

The brunette boy placed his own hand over Armin’s, “Alright, fine let’s go back inside.” He said as he knew the blonde was right.

 

The two of them walk back into the room, Mikasa looks up from her phone and nods. The boys sit down across from her. The brunette girl passes her device to the two, “I found us a hunt if you’re interested.” Her words were more directed towards Eren, but she let her eyes look over the both of them. When her brother nods at her Mikasa continues, “People around here have been dropping dead, the cause is unknown-”

 

Eren cuts her off, “What do you mean that there’s no known cause?” He quizzes his sister.

 

“Yes, there seems to be nothing wrong with them- No trauma of any kind and all of them were in perfect health. The victims just dropped dead.” Mikasa informs the boys as she takes her phone back from Eren. The brunette boy’s eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at the girl in front of him. This was definitely one of their cases.

 

Armin sat quietly listening to the conversation, happy that there was something to help take Eren’s mind off of the current situation. All the blonde could really ask for was some sort of update from anyone so that this really could be dealt with. It needed to be fixed soon, they all knew it, they just didn’t know how. “I don’t think going to check the bodies would be of much use then-” Armin pauses as he leans his chin against the palm of his hand.

 

“Then what can we do?” Eren looked to the blonde boy.

 

Armin looked back at the brunette, catching his eyes with his own for the first time in a long time. The world seemed to melt around him, and in that moment all that mattered was the other boy. He had missed being so close to him, Eren had been really closed off lately and it was really getting to him. Armin wondered if this was a sign of the brunette coming back to him, at least that’s what he hoped- Something he felt like they were doing a lot lately. The blonde reaches out and gently runs his fingers through Eren’s hair, resting his hand at the nape of his neck.

 

Mikasa watches them silently, waiting for them to stop giving each other heart eyes. When she realised that they weren’t going to stop staring she interrupted with a cough. The two boys pull apart. Armin looks to the brunette girl with bright pink cheeks, embarrassed that he had forgotten that they were in the middle of a conversation with her while he stared at the other boy. Mikasa looks between the two sitting in front of her, deciding to move on with the topic at hand as to put them out of their misery, “If looking at the bodies won’t help then what should we do then?” She repeats what her brother had said before getting distracted by the blonde boy.

 

Armin clears his throat as he tries to forget what had just happened, “We should have a look at the crime scenes.”

 

The brunette girl gets up, “Alright, lets go now.”

 

They get up and go to the car. Mikasa starts it and pulls up the location of the last killing was on her phone. The drive was silent as they all seemed to watch the road as they travelled. When the teens got out of the vehicle and instantly they realised there was something off about the area. It was like the world was grey here, the air was stale, and the wind whispered unease into their cores. Although it wasn’t really cold Armin tightly wrapped his arms around himself. He looked around, the blonde was left with the feeling that this was only the remnant left behind by something much worse and it send a chill down his spine. He moved closer to Eren as he looked around.

 

The brunette boy tenses up as the other boy seems to snuggle into him. He wondered if it would be alright for him to put an arm around him. Eren busied himself by looking around, it didn’t seem to work very well.

 

The hunters soon realised that beside the bad feeling the place gave them there was nothing here to give them a single clue about what was going on. There really was no reason to stick around. Mikasa huffs out a breath and turns to the boys, “The only thing we got out of this was that this is going to be a difficult hunt.”

 

Eren hums, “Yeah I think that’s about right.” He said this while he looked at the boy beside him, which he couldn’t seem to take his mind off him. Still caught up if it would be appropriate to touch him. Eren decided against it, after all he had put Armin through and with what’s going on it would not be appropriate at all to try and hug him.

 

The hunters turned around and walked back to the car, feeling a little defeated after their search turned up nothing. However, Armin watched the area out the window. There was something off about that place and he didn’t know how to explain it. There was something off and he was going to find out what. He wondered where they should go from here.

 

When they got back to the motel the thought was still on his mind as he walked in the door. He fell into a chair as he blankly stared at the table in front of him while he thought about it. Mikasa dropped into a seat next to him, “What are you thinking?” She asked in a small voice, not wanting him to lose the current thought he has.

 

Armin looks up at the girl, “That whole place was just strange, wouldn’t you think?”

 

Mikasa frowns, “Well yes, but I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at.”

 

“Where were the other killings?” Armin asked Mikasa.

 

The brunette girl dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She passed him the device with a photo displaying the locations of the crime scenes. Armin looked over the dots on the map, wondering what they even meant. The map of the ritual demon killings flashed inside his head, but this one was different. The rituals were strategically placed for whatever they were doing, however this just seemed to show more of a direction that the creature must have been traveling. Was this it just feeding along the way? He wondered. “If it was just feeding while traveling then why wasn’t the victims harmed in anyway?” Armin thought out loud.

 

“Maybe it’s not eating the flesh of the people it kills?” Mikasa chimes into his line of thought.

 

“What- Like eating the souls?” He looks over at her with a shocked look.

 

“Maybe.” Mikasa looks down at her hands resting on the table, her brows knitted together.

 

Eren, moved closer to the other two hunters, “Well there are creatures that feed off the souls of their victim.” He adds to the conversation.

 

“Hu- Like what?” Armin looks towards the other boy.

 

“I think mum and dad faced a crocottas once when we were younger- Before we went on hunts with them.” Eren looked to his sister for a conformation.

 

Mikasa hummed, “Yes- They were the ones that would mimic the voice of a dead loved one to lure their victims away to eat their souls.”

 

“Well I guess the only way to find out is to ask the victims’ families if they were acting strange.” Armin then looks between the two hunters on either side of him.

 

The teens got up and went back to the car. They were going to get this over with. Mikasa pulls up to a small house and the trio get out, walking up to the door. When they knock a man answers them. “Hello, we’d just like to ask a few questions about your son?” Armin says to the man while the hunters show their fake IDs.

 

He lets them in, “What is it that you want to know?” He asks them with his arms crossed over his chest.

 

“Was your son acting strange before he died?” Eren stepped towards the man.

 

“Strange? No, he was acting completely normal.” His voice came out a bit too harsh.

 

“For reference what’s normal for him?” Armin quizzed the man.

 

He sighs, “My son was kind of a troubled boy- very angry, I’m not really sure what about.” He seemed kind of fed up with the teens.

 

“Nobody close to your son has died recently?” The brunette boy continued with his own line of questioning.

 

“No. What has any of this got to do with the murder of my son?” The victim’s father demanded.

 

“We just have to check every lead, sir.” Mikasa steps in. She looks between the two boys, “Thank you, sir, I think it’s time we left.”

 

The man hums, “Yes, I think that would be best.” He escorted the teens out of the house.

 

The brunette looks back at the boys as she unlocks the car, “I don’t think our victim was lured away to be killed.”

 

Eren got in the back of the car with Armin, “Then what the hell killed them then?”

 

The blonde boy looked to the rear-view mirror to meet Mikasa’s eyes, “I guess we have to keep looking.”

 

“And while we chase our tails people will keep dying.” Eren grumbles.

 

Mikasa looks over her shoulder, “And what else can we do? Just go into this blind?” She narrows her eyes at the brunette boy.  

 

He didn’t have a reply for her, so he just looked out the window while she started the car. The rise back to where they were staying was quiet. The second they walked back through the door Armin went to his back and threw every book he had collected on his and Eren’s bed. The two other hunters watched him curiously before they get on the bed with him and start flipping through the pages. The teens sat in a circle reading and sharing the things they had found. Everything the looked at seemed to have something wrong with it. Didn’t fit the killing style, doesn’t eat souls, conflicts with what the family of one of the victim’s said. The trio was sure that they weren’t going to find anything that had to potential to have done this.

 

They were starting to feel a little fed up with the whole thing when they hear a buzz from the police radio that sat on the motel table. Mikasa pushes her book away and walks over to it, leaning over to be able to listen to it better. She turns her head slightly and says, “There has been another killing.”

 

While Mikasa drove the car, Armin looked at the now updated map, and just like they had theorised it seemed the creature was in fact traveling forward. At least that would help them find the thing once they figure out what it was and how to kill it.

 

The teens got out and it hit them like a brick. It was like the world in just this small area was darker than the rest of the world, the feelings of hopelessness and anger swirled around them in the air. It was like the last area, but stronger filling the trio with fear and shaking them to their core. If they didn’t have a job to do, they might have been tempted to get back in the vehicle and run away from this place, to go as far away as possible. But that wasn’t something they could do, so they pressed on trying to ignore the emotions and continue on.

 

They showed their IDs to the police officers there, who didn’t seem too interested as they were too bothered by the energy radiating off the area. The teens walk to the centre of the taped off crime scene to where the body of the victim lay. Just as Mikasa had told them when they had first taken the hunt the victim had not a single mark on them. It was like they were just sleeping, but the hunters knew better than to think that. They exchanged a look, there still no clues. Beside the aura hanging around there seemed to be nothing there. They just didn’t know what to do, there seemed to be nothing for them to figure out what was going on.

 

So much for getting his mind off of the demons and hell, Eren thought. It was turning out just like that and it was pissing the brunette off even more. Armin saw how annoyed Eren was becoming and took his hand, giving it a tight squeeze. He turns and walks back to the car, tugging the blonde along with him. They went back to the motel, disheartened by the lack of clues being revealed to them.

 

They were greeted by the abandoned books still laying on the bed where they had left them. Eren sat down and flipped mindlessly through one, Armin sunk down next to him and put his hand on the other boy’s knee gently rubbing to reassure him. “We’ll find something.” He whispered. Armin reached over and grabbed a rather large and old book, it had been one of the books he had taken from the witch after Eren had killed her. Without taking his hand off of the other boy he opened the book on his lap. The yellow pages slightly curling at the corners and looked so delicate that they might just crumble in between his fingers if he wasn’t careful enough. Armin slowly turned the pages, skimming over the words on the pages. His fingers paused as he gripped the corner of the paper. He read the details more closely.

 

_A wraith. These creatures are the cursed souls of those whose spell for immortality backfired. In a way they succeeded in their desire as now they are forced to roam for the rest of time as this monster. They give off the overpowering feelings of despair and hatred and cause the world around them to darken. Out of anger for their situation the wraith will seek out others that are hateful and rip their soul from their body with a simple touch, forcing their victims to travel with them until the wraith dies._

“Ah! I think I found something!” Armin removed his hand from Eren’s knee to shove the book into the other boy’s lap.

 

“Well then how do we kill it?” The brunette asked.

 

The blonde boy just points to the end of the passage, “We can kill it with a holy weapon.”

 

“Well where do we find a holy weapon?” Mikasa crossed her arms while se spoke.

 

Armin looked away, “I’m not sure.”

 

“Maybe we should ask Erwin and Levi-” Eren trailed off, although they needed help Eren still didn’t want to admit it.

 

“That’s- probably what we need to do.” Mikasa takes out her phone begrudgingly, she wasn’t excited to talk to her cousin again. The brunette girl dials the number they need, waiting for someone to pick up, “Hello, Levi?” Mikasa pauses. “We need your help- Mmmhm- We need to find a holy weapon.” She sat down at the table and dug around her bag for a pen and paper. Scribbling down whatever it is that he said to her. She hung up the phone and returned it to her pocket, “He said there has been some talk about a weapon like that being hidden in a church- But it’s a little bit far.”

 

“We can guess where it will attack next, so, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to get this thing.” Armin spoke up.

 

They made sure to arrive at night so that no one would know that they were there. The teens split up and search the place. Mikasa and Armin went into the church itself and was turning the place upside-down, pulling out drawers and tossing around the contents. There didn’t seem to be anything that could count as a weapon at all in the church and the two started to lose hope that they would find it here. Eren had gone by himself into the mausoleum looking over everything in there. There seemed to be nothing there but the eerie emptiness and silence. He stopped in front of one of the panels, it had no name on it, there was in fact nothing at all on it. But it looks like it was the most well maintained out of everything inside the place. Eren bent down to get a better look at it and banged his fist against it. He then looked around and saw a large decorative stone bowl with a thick stand attached to it. The brunette squatted down to pick it up at the base and with some struggle he was able to lift it. His arms shook under the pressure as he moved it back and swung it at his target. The stone panel broke into large chunks and Eren dropped the decoration he held with a large thud.

 

He walked forward and pulled away the remaining bits of the stone. Inside was a small compartment that housed a box. Eren dragged it out. It was long and coved in a thick layer of dust. He flipped the lid. Inside the box was a short sword. The blade was silver with a gold hilt, the cross-guard was carved so a rectangle on it contained what looked like masses of squabbling people. It was a very heavy sword, but if it got the job done then Eren wasn’t complaining. He placed the sword back in the box and picked it up to show the others.

 

Mikasa slowly lifts the weapon out of its case, feeling the carvings under her fingers. She looks up at her brother and lowers the blade back into the box, nodding at the boy. The trio snuck out of the church. Carefully placing the case with the blade inside the boot of the car. All they had was hope that this would work in killing the wraith.

 

Armin looked over the shoulder of the front seat and helped point out the area where he assumed the creature would attack next. They drove around until the sky seemed to darken outside the vehicle window. Mikasa pulled over and the group continued on foot. Just like the last crime scene the feeling of anger and sadness. The trio knew they were close then and it was only a limited amount of time until they found the wraith.

 

 It came to them in a cloud of dark grey smoke. It was like death coming towards them, covered in a black cloak a hood covering the creature’s face. The closer it got the feelings it created began to take root inside their bellies.

 

Mikasa stumbles backwards, not taking her eyes off it, towards the trunk of the car. But, Eren stood in place, his legs like stone keeping him there. The wraith seemed to be coming towards him and he wasn’t sure what to do. Armin grabbed him by the wrist and tugs him backwards towards the vehicle with Mikasa. Each of the teens kept a close eye on the wraith, too afraid to do much else but back away from it. When the brunette girl got to the back of the car, she let herself look away to quickly unlock the trunk and pull out the holy weapon. She held the short sword in one hand as she moved out from behind the car.

 

The wraith took one look at her with the weapon and it let out a bellowing scream. The smoke exploded and quickly grew in size covering the whole area in a thin layer of the smog. It felt like the creature had let out smoky tentacles to reach deep inside them and plant a deep depression inside them.

 

Mikasa withers from the smoke gathering around her. Her hands snaking and becoming weaker, she’s unable to keep hold of the heavy weapon. The sword falls from her fingers grasp and hits the ground with a clatter, Mikasa follows soon after. The brunette curls up against the taillight of Carla’s car, tears burning in the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t take the feeling, she just couldn’t take it. Mikasa looks over at the blade laying on the ground, letting her tears fall as she tangled her fingers in her hair. She had failed them. She just couldn’t do it, and it would be the end of her. Mikasa tucked her head between her knees and let her tears fall freely down her cheeks. The scariest thing of all was she didn’t understand why she was feeling like this, all she knew was she felt empty, lost and hopeless.

 

Armin was holding a hand against his stomach, he could almost feel the storm of emotion churn against his palm. He looked behind him to see the girl crumpled up on the floor and then to the blade that sat close beside her. With the strength he had left, that was being drained from him by the deep seeded dark feelings, he walked over to the weapon. The blonde dug his fingers into his skin as he bent over to pick it up. Even with the last of him strength being taken from him he forced himself onward. Taking heavy steps forward towards Eren, who was still standing where Armin had left him. The blonde took the blade of the sword in one hand and let go of the handle, rising it up to the brunette. “Eren- Take it. I- I don’t think I can do this.” Armin’s body felt like it was being weighed down, the sadness and despair pulling him deeper into the darkness.

 

Eren’s eyes slid over to the hilt of the holy sword. Slowly he took it from Armin. Although he too felt the effects of the wraith’s powers he kept moving, he knew he could do this. Now the two of them were coming towards each other. Both had the intent to end the other’s life. Eren lifted his heavy arms as the creature reached out for him. The brunette boy pulled the sword back and swung with the energy her hand left. The weapon sliced cleanly though the wraith’s neck. It disintegrated into black smoke and mixed with the rest of the smog. Eren dropped the sword as he stared ahead into the deep nothingness, not a single thought flying through his mind.

 

As the smoke cleared the wraith’s hold on the world around them seem to disappear. The tentacles of the creature’s depression loosened their hold on the teens and slithered away into the void. Mikasa looked up letting her hands drop from her scalp before getting up. Both boys wordlessly went back to the car and got in while the brunette girl picked up the sword and chucked it in the boot. When she closed the driver’s side door, she let herself speak, “Why-” She paused letting herself rearrange her thoughts after the whole ordeal, “Why didn’t it affect you Eren?” She looked at her brother through the rear-view mirror.

 

Eren just looked out the window and muttered, “I guess I’m just used to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Supernatural already has their own wraith monster, but I saw the wraith mythology online and I thought it was really cool. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you have a good day/night! <3


	23. Chapter Twenty-three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this so late! I had an ass tonne of assignments due this week (six to be specific) and was working on them the whole of last and this week. I will try to post again soon but I still have may more assignments to do (tbh semester two is a killer at the uni I go to). 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter <3 <3

The car ride was silent they still weren’t up to talking after their last hunt. But the quiet was cut with a shrill ringing of Eren’s phone. The brunette digs it out of his pocket. His stomach jumps at the sight of the name on the screen. Hurriedly he answers the call, “Yes, Hanji?” The two other teens in the car could hear their rambling about whatever it was they found but couldn’t hear the specific words. “Are you sure?” Eren asks his brows knitted together. He glances at the other two hunters before hanging up.

 

“What did they want?” Mikasa looks at him through the rear-view mirror.

 

“They gave me the location of where there had been a lot of demon activity.” Eren responds.

 

“Do you think they might do another ritual there?” Armin leans over to the other boy.

 

“Yeah, that’s Hanji said.”

 

“Well it’s worth a shot going and having a look.” Mikasa speaks up, “So where is this location?” When Eren told her, she pulled a hard turn. “What should we look for first?”

 

“Maybe for a place to do the ritual?” Armin responded. The blonde looked out the window and frowned when he saw a vehicle start up from the shadows and started driving behind them, he turned around to get a better look at the car it looked strangely familiar. He shrugged it off, telling himself that they were probably just traveling in the same direction or something. He looked back towards Mikasa.

 

“I guess that’s a start.” Eren said to him. Mikasa started to look in the rear-view mirror periodically, almost like she was paranoid. “Hmm- What are you looking at?” Her brother asked.

 

“I think someone is following up- Do you see the car behind us? They have been behind us for ages now.”

 

Both boys looked behind them, “Hey I saw us pass that car- Doesn’t it look familiar?” Armin spoke up.

 

“Yeah- I think that’s Reiner’s car.” Eren answered the blonde while he kept his eyes on the car following them.

 

Mikasa didn’t care for what the other two were discussing and she made a sharp turn, so their car cut off the whole road. She gets out and stands there in the middle pf the road, in front of the crookedly parked car, her hands on her hips and death glaring the other car. When the other car stopped and the driver got out of their car, “And what do you think you’re doing?” Mikasa asked them.

 

“Woah, I just saw you guys and thought maybe you needed some help.” Reiner said, his hands up in the air. He made a gesture and Bertholt and Annie got out of the back of his car.

 

Armin heard this and opened his door, stumbling out, “Wait, then why were you waiting by the side of the road?” He asked.

 

“I don’t know what you were talking about, we just kind of caught up with you guys.” The blonde man shrugged. The smaller blonde frowned at him, something felt off he just wasn’t sure what. “Like I said we just saw you guys and I thought we’d tag along.” Reiner said almost forcefully.

 

Eren slid out of his seat through Armin’s open door, and let out a sigh, “You did help us out last time, we could use it again.”

 

“So, what are you guy doing?” The blonde asked the other boy.

 

“We’re hunting another demon. Just follow behind us.” Mikasa says nonchalantly.

 

“Yeah- We’ll do that.” Annie glares at the other hunters as they get back into their car.

 

The blonde boy slid back into the back seat of their vehicle, eyes still trained on the other hunters. He didn’t know why but something felt off. But he pushed it down to the pit of his stomach because he knew they couldn’t do this on their own. Armin looked around at his friends in the car with him, their faces calm almost stony. He must be the only one thinking these things, therefore he must be wrong about it, the blonde rationalised.

 

The silence is broken by Mikasa, “Where should we look first when we get there?” She asks as she looks into the mirror, however her eyes didn’t seem concentrated on the boys in the back seat as if she was looking somewhere else.

 

The sound of the brunette girl’s voice seemed to calm some of Armin’s nerves, and he dug out his phone. “Well all the other rituals took place at an abandoned building, so I’d assume there would be a good place to start.” He tapped away at his device. “But I’m afraid that after what happened last time-” He paused looking at the boy beside him in the corner of his eye, “That they might know what we’re doing.”

 

“So, anything we do might already be expected.” Eren said in a monotoned voice.

 

“Exactly.” The blonde nods along with the other boy. “Whatever we end up doing we need to be really careful to not raise any suspicion of what we’re doing there.” He threw a glance behind them to the car following close behind them, he wondered if such a big group of hunters could go unnoticed in an area that has so much demonic activity. Armin looked out the window and let his thoughts consume his mind, trying to think of a way to get this done without raising alarms.

 

Mikasa pulls the car over, but she stays in the car and gives the two boys a look to tell them not to move. She rolls down the window as the other hunter’s car pulls up. The blonde man walked up to her door, leaning on the open window. “What are we doing now?” He quizzes the other hunter.

 

Without blinking she responded, “We need to get in and see what’s going on without being detected by the demons occupying this area.”

 

He hums, straightening up and resting his chin in between his thumb and forefinger. He nods with a deep frown on his face, “Yes- Yes, that is going to be difficult.” He looked between the trio and drops his hand from his face, he coughs slightly before continuing, “Maybe we should split up for a bit while investigating some of the activity here.” He turns and rushes back to his vehicle.

 

Armin watched Reiner move away, “That was strange wasn’t it? The way he was acting, it was strange.” He looked away from the blonde man towards the other two hunters in the car.

 

Mikasa looked at the blonde boy through the rear-view mirror, “I agree- I think it would be foolish to think we can trust them.”

 

“We don’t know him that well, he could just be a strange guy-” Eren paused. “But you’re right, we shouldn’t put too much faith in them.” All that mattered to him right now was that he got to finish this. The brunette’s eyes trail over to the blonde beside him, of course there was still desires he had. No matter how much he wanted them, no matter how much he just wanted to kiss the other boy, he had to prioritise other things. Eren linger on Armin, letting himself look up and down the boy’s figure. No, the brunette needs to focus on trying to save the world from hell. He finally looked away from the boy and to the other hunters’ car pull away from them, speeding down the road.

 

“Then we start our investigation into what’s going with these demons” Mikasa starts up the car again, pulling away from the side of the road. She was sure that she would come up with something when the time came.

 

Eren leaned forward onto the passenger seat and starts telling her about what Hanji had said about the demonic activity on the phone. Soon the hunters had come up with where to start. They had decided to start asking questions around the town, someone had to have seen something. The teens weren’t sure if they would be able to prevent this ritual killing, but they could at least attempt something, at least they could find something out. Find out what the hell is going on right now, what hell is doing.

 

The best place to start was always a bar, so that’s where Mikasa took them. Pulling up to a shabby looking little building. It looked more run down than the bar Sasha ran, which was saying something considering it was in the middle of no where and only really served hunters. The trio walk in through the front door, there wasn’t very many people in there, all of which were very drunk stumbling around the space. There was an old TV mounted on the wall, the sound down low playing the news, no one payed it any mind as they drank. The hunters looked between each other before splitting up to ask questions. Eren beelined to the bar, while Mikasa and Armin stuck together searching through the crowd for people to talk to.

 

Once the brunette got to the bar he sat down on a stool. Because there were so little people there the second he sat down the bar tender moved over to him, “What do you want?”

 

“Just a rum and coke-” He paused as the other man grabbed a glass to make his request, “Wow, this have sure been strange lately.” He played it casual, taking his drink from the man.

 

The bartender raised an eyebrow, “Hmm- I guess it has been strange.”

 

“You wouldn’t have happened to see or hear about anything else that’s happening?” Eren pushes his questioning of the other man.

 

The bartender leaned on the counter, “You know what, yeah I have.” His voice was low as he spoke.

 

“Could you tell me about it?”

 

“I could just show you.” He raises his eyebrow at the boy sitting in front of him.

 

“Uh- But you have the pub to run-”

 

The other man cut Eren off, “Oh that doesn’t matter, there’s hardly anyone here and it’ll be quick.”

 

The brunette looked over his shoulder to the other two hunters, he quickly shook off the want to go get them. “Yeah sure, as long as this is quick.” Eren picked up his untouched drink and tipped the whole cup back into his mouth.

 

The bartender straightened up, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, “Yeah- It’ll be quick.” He flashed the boy a quick smirk before leading him out back of the building.

 

The streets were dark, with all the lights out so Eren couldn’t see anything but the bartender’s dark figure in front of him. The further away from the pub they got the more the bad feelings grew inside of him. He mentally hit himself for not asking the others to come with him, it was safer in groups after all. Soon the brunette reached for his knife, placing his hand on the handle ready to fight if he needed to.

 

Finally, the man stopped, he stood still for a few excruciating moments until he swiftly turned around to face Eren, “So, let me guess you’re a hunter.” He said plainly, eyebrow raised at the boy.

 

The brunette curled his fingers tightly around his weapon, “How do you know?”

 

The man laughed, “It was kind of obvious-” His face fell from the jolly look of laughter to a serious and stony look in the blink of an eye, “But all I care about it is who you are not what.” The man’s voice was ice cold and sent a shiver down the hunter’s spine.

 

“I’m Eren- And why should you care?” He demanded.

 

The man closed his eyes and when he opened them they were pure black, “I think you know the answer to that.”

 

Mikasa gets up from where she was sitting, the last person she questioned was of no help at all. She looks around to locate her two boys. Spotting Armin but unable to find her brother. The brunette girl easily reaches the blonde boy, grabbing his elbow and pulling him away from the person he was talking to. “Have you seen Eren?” She asks him.

 

“I saw him talking to the bartender just a little while ago.” Both of them look to the bar, to see no one there. “Uh-” Before he could say anything more Mikasa yanks him out of the pub with her into the cool night air. Looking around she sees nothing.

 

“Shit! Where could he have gone?” She says this more for herself then to get an actual response from the boy next to her. Mikasa lets go of his arm and looks to him, “What do we do now?”

 

“Maybe we need to split up and try and find him- I know it’s not ideal but if he’s in trouble it’s all we can do.” Armin looks away from her and down the street to his right side, with all the lights out he couldn’t see anything at all. This was going to make it much harder to find the brunette in these conditions.

 

“You’re right it is all we can do- Shit why didn’t he tell us anything?” She combs her fingers through her hair, slightly yanking on the roots.

 

Armin turns his focus back on the girl in front of him, “That’s just the way he is, now lets go. We’re wasting time.” He starts walking down away from her and into the inky night.

 

Eren isn’t completely shocked by this, but more disturbed that he allowed himself to wonder off with a stranger without telling anyone. He should have said something, even if he thought the others didn’t care as much as he did. “It was a trap and I was stupid enough to go with you.” The brunette muttered allowed.

 

“Yeah- And imagine how amazed I was that this worked at all. Oh, they’re going to be so happy you’re finally dead.” The demon chuckles.

 

“They?”

 

“That doesn’t matter to you- All that matters is that you’re going to die.” The demon took a step towards him, “You’re going to die like the pathetic little boy you are.”

 

Eren takes his knife out, brandishing it fearlessly, “I refuse to die at the hands of such filth as you.” He grits out

 

“Fighting right to the end- You hunters are all the same. What do you even get out of this?” His voice was cold as he stared down the hunter, “Well besides a cursed life- to watch everyone you love die.” Eren flinched at the last part, images of Carla holding the boy he loved so dearly by his throat and the angry purple that decorated his flesh. With those words he was reminded that all of that was his fault, he should never let him come, but his own selfish need to always have him near won out and now look where he is. The blade shook in his trembling hands, this didn’t go unnoticed by the demon. “Oh, is there someone you’re afraid to lose? Well you better kiss them goodbye.” He sniggers.

 

“Shut your mouth and fight me!” The brunette screamed at his enemy. The two took a step forward and began to circle around each other, “I swear I’ll kill you and I’ll take down the rest of hell too.” He continued; the demon only smiled in response.

 

Eren slashed at the monster. The demon easily taking the blow without much mind. The brunette continued to swing, hitting the possessed human, but he does nothing. He doesn’t even flinch. When the demon had enough of playing around with his prey he flicks his wrist and sends the hunter flying back. He hits the ground and his weapon is knocked out from his hands. The hunter starts to scramble to his feet as the twisted human walks towards him. Then the sound of pounding came from behind the two fighting, two pairs of feet hitting the ground as they ran towards them. “Hey! Get away from my brother!” Eren looked around to see Mikasa glaring down at the demon. He looked past her to see the blonde, his belly dropped slightly thinking about what the demon had said earlier. Adrenalin pumps through his body willing him to get up and keep fighting for the ones he loved, he had to. He stood with the others, up against a demon. If they had done it once they could do it again.

 

The demon huffs but stands ready. Ready to fight the stupid humans. Mikasa struck the first hit, landing a punch hard on his chin. Then Eren landed his own hit on the demon. Gritting his teeth, the monstrosity of hell’s making back handed the brunette boy and grabbed his sister by the collar and threw her like a doll away from him. This didn’t seem to deter the fighting duo as they got back up and kept fighting, throwing hit and taking them. Without being noticed Armin had slipped behind the demon as he watched the small battle. He looked to his side, without hesitation he picked up a rock and smashed it over the monster’s head. He crumbled to the floor as the huffing siblings looked from the demon on the ground to the blonde standing over his body. Armin shrugged, “That could have taken forever, and we need answers now.”

 

Wordlessly the blonde boy grabbed hold of the man’s wrists and nods for one of them to take his ankles. Mikasa brushed past her brother and helped the boy pick up the unconscious man. As they walked away Eren couldn’t help but watch as Armin walked, he really needed to try and remind himself that he can take care of himself sometimes. He shook the though from his head and followed them back to the car, tossing the body in the back. This time Eren drove to find them a motel with Armin in the front with him. Mikasa sat in the back with the demon in case it woke up and needed to be knocked out again.

 

Eren rushed it to pay for a room and then helped get the man into their room. After laying him down on the bed they set everything up. Tying him to a chair set on top of a devil’s trap. Just as they were about to begin there was a knock at the door. The trio looked between each other. Mikasa threw a sheet over the demon to hid him the best she could, it didn’t work well at all. Eren just grabbed her upper arm and yanked her so the two of them were standing in front of their captive. They did this while Armin walked over to the door. A shaking hand being lifted to the knob, he opened the door to their guest. Reiner pushed through the door, with Bertholt and Annie following soon after. The brunette man gently pushed the door closed. Following the action up with a quick swipe across his forehead, Annie rolled her eyes at this.

 

Eren held his hand out to Armin, who slipped out from behind the bigger hunters and grabbed hold of the offered hand. The two then moved to the side as Mikasa removed the sheet, reminiscent of a waiter revealing a gourmet meal at a restaurant. “And what are we supposed to do with this?” Reiner gestured at the man.

 

Eren took a step forward, “Question it, try and find answers.”

 

Armin still had a tight grip on the other boy’s hand, He leaned over to get a better look at the other trio in the room, “How did you find us exactly?”

 

Mikasa stared down Annie, “Yes, how did you find us? We had forgotten to tell you.”

 

“W-we had driven around until we saw your car-” Bertholt started.

 

“And paid off the receptionist to get your room.” Annie finished without taking her eyes off of Mikasa.

 

“Well we need to get this investigation underway.” Eren looked between all the hunters in the room and then to the demon. Mikasa nods in agreement, grabbing a bottle and splashed holy water onto it. The monster’s eyes shot open as it let out a howl. “Good to see you awake- I’d like to continue the conversation we were having before.” Eren let go of the other boy’s hand and walked up to the demon.

 

“Oh, the one where all your loved ones will die? Because now I’ll make sure to kill them myself.” He hissed. His black eyes slid over to Armin, “I’ll make sure to kill the pretty blonde one first, for hitting me with that rock- It really hurt.” The demon pouted. But, he perked up when Eren moved in front of him immediately when he looked over at the boy, “Ah- I see. Well you better kiss him while you have the chance.” He laughed, although Eren’s fist shut him up quickly.

 

“No, the one about whoever was going to be happy that I was dead.” Eren gritted out as he leaned in closer to the monster.

 

“Hey, say it don’t spray it!” He smiled for a second before noticing how quickly the brunette seemed to be losing his temper, “Alright, alight. I was talking about my boss; you know big boss.” He looked over Eren’s shoulder to look at the trio behind him, “Boss sent someone to kill you and your little pals here- You see your family just seems to keep getting in the way.” He looked back at Eren. “First mummy, then daddy-” He let out a stiff chuckle without opening his mouth, “And now you- Plus your sister and sweetness behind you- And you’re all going to end up like daddy dearest.” The demon’s tone was harsh.

 

Eren’s heart twisted in his chest at the mention of his father, “You’re wrong!” He screeched.

 

Reiner moved towards Eren, placing a hand on his shoulder while looking the demon in the eye, “Come on, we aren’t going to get anything else out of him- Lets just preform an exorcism.”

 

The demon raised an eyebrow, “Is that going to solve your problems? I think you’re way in over your head- And too stupid to realise it.”

 

Armin moves over to Eren’s over side, holding the brunette’s hand in one of his own and rubbing his other softly up and down his upper arm, “I hate to say it, but the demon is right-” Eren’s head jerks towards the blonde, eyes wide with what he just said. “I know what you’re going to say- But think of this rationally. We can perform an exorcism, but they’ll come right back at some point.” Armin pulled himself closer to the other boy, pressing his body against his, “I don’t just mean that about the demon we have right now- But the one orchestrating this whole thing, the one possessing your mother-” He paused as he grazes his lips against the other boy’s ear, “We need to find a way to kill them.” He whispers before slightly pulling away.

 

Reiner cleared his throat and let his hand drop from Eren’s shoulder, feeling more than a little awkward about witnessing the intimate action, “Well lets get this over with- Bertholt, you can do it.” The three boys stepped away from the demon and let the tall Brunette perform the ritual, sending the thing back to hell. “Bert and Annie, I trust you to take this man to a hospital while I talk to them.” He said this without looking at his two friends and they wordlessly did what he ordered. Untying the man and dragging him out of the motel.

 

“You want to talk to us?” Mikasa raised an eyebrow.

 

“Yes- I know you’re going to want to kill the demon in your mother-”

 

He was cut off by Eren, “We never told you that.” The trio frowned at the blonde man.

 

“Cristo.” Armin pretended to cough, but nothing happened, not even a flinch. Then he wasn’t a demon, then what was he doing? The blonde boy wondered.

 

“Anyway, I thought I could help with that.” Reiner continued.

 

“And how could you do that?” Eren asked, his thoughts thick with suspicion.

 

“The colt- It’s a gun that can kill anything, if we find it we can kill the demon that’s doing this.” He seemed more on guard with his words this time around.

 

“You’re lying.” Mikasa hissed. “That thing isn’t real.”

 

“I swear it is.” Reiner glared at her.

 

“Tell the truth- What are you really here for?” Eren says as he and his sister started to close in on him.

 

He gave them a strained smile, “I’m your ally.” He says plainly.

 

“No-” Armin spoke up as he watched the others, “Wasn’t it strange that a demon let us perform an exorcism on it, we never got it in a devil’s trap, yet it just let us send it back to hell.” He tilted his head as he stared right into Reiner’s eyes, “And you guys disappear for most of the hunt and reappear with the location of a demon coincidentally- No, it was planned.”

 

The blonde man stiffly laughs, sweat dripping down his forehead, “Come on guys, I swear I’m your friend.”

 

“Tell us everything you know, now!” Eren demanded.

 

“Bertholt, Annie!” Reiner screamed out and the two burst into the room, the two of them blood stained.

 

Armin gasped, “Is that what you did to the other man we let you leave with? Kill them so no one would know!?”

 

 

“All apart of the job.” Annie said nonchalantly.

 

“Enough talk! You aren’t human, you threw your life in with them. I’ll gladly send you to hell where you belong.” Eren punched Reiner, hitting his nose with a sickening crack. Blood poured out of the now broken part of the blonde man’s face.

 

The fight started. Annie and Mikasa tangled fists until the smaller woman swiped her leg under the brunette, who easily jumped back onto her feet to continue hitting the other girl as hard as possible. She kicked Annie smashing the blonde woman against the wall, knocking the cheap art off the wall shattering the glass frame. Annie was sure she was going to repay the brunette woman for that. Eren seemed to easily beat Reiner back, landing almost every hit and hardly taking any. It just seemed to easy, Eren had thought that such a big guy might know how to fight better, but what could he expect from a coward such as Reiner. However, Armin and Berthold just circled each other not sure who should make the first move or maybe they weren’t ready to hurt the other. But the choice was made for them as Eren threw Reiner on top of Bert to protect the blonde boy. Even though he was sure he might be able to defend himself well enough Eren couldn’t help but want to keep him safe, especially since a storm seemed to be brewing.  

 

The blonde man scrabbled up and grabbed hold of taller brunette, “We’ll see you again.” He hissed and yanked Bert out of the motel room. Annie walked backwards to the door, glaring down Mikasa before turning on her heal and running after her two friends.

 

Eren rushed to the door to watch them speed down the road, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He yelled as he kicked the door frame repeatedly.

 

“We need to leave if anyone sees the room like this we’ll get in a lot of trouble.” Mikasa says calmly. Armin agreed with her, thanking the fact that they hadn’t taken the time to even bring in anything they owned.

 

“Yeah, whatever.” Eren said quietly, watching the road.  


	24. Chapter Twenty-four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was able to get a chapter out this week and I think I can unpdate again next week, but because I have three big reports due in the up coming weeks. This fic won't be abandoned, I'll be able to write again in the mid semester break which is coming up in four more weeks (so, there won't be an update for three weeks).
> 
> Thanks for being patient with me <3  
> Enjoy this chapter <3

It wasn’t the outcome they had expected, to find out that hunters had betrayed their own kind, but it happened. Eren’s head was spinning, who else could he not trust? He had no idea and that scared him more than anything else. He had never felt so alone, even with Armin beside him. The blonde boy combed his fingers through his hair pulling Eren’s head closer to him, resting his forehead against his cheek. But his touch didn’t seem to help him calm down, how could he calm down when there was so much at risk and they were is so much danger. Eren turned his head slightly to press a soft kiss to the other boy’s forehead.

 

The brunette’s attention was stolen away when they drove past police cars with their sirens blaring and the lights flashing. Eren pulled away from Armin to look out the window of the car, watching them pass in front of them and continue to speed ahead. He looked to Mikasa, who met his eyesight in the rear-view mirror, “Fine we’ll have a quick look to see what’s happening.” She slammed down the accelerator to catch up with the vehicles. They pulled up at a small abandoned building. The teens watch from their car as the officers get out and set up the police tape to section the area off. Eren gets out, his eyes wide and walks mindlessly towards the man standing out front of the building. “I’m sorry you can’t-” The brunette just showed him his ID and ducked under the tap, not listening to what the officer had to say.

 

He pushed the door open, all the people in there turned to him with Eren just continuing to show his ID to them. He stumbles through the space. Then he sees it the victim’s body lay on the ground with the ritual’s symbol drawn in blood on the ground. Eren stumbled backwards away from the thing. Anger swelled in his stomach at the sight. This happened while they were busy, right under their nose. How could he let this happen? He continued to look around the room, not sure what he was trying to find. But there was nothing, not a clue that they hadn’t already seem from the other cases. All it served as was a reminder that hell was getting closer to their goal and he still had no idea what it was that they were doing.

 

Armin and Mikasa were finally able push through the police and get to Eren. They saw him staring at the ground and their eyes followed his line of vision. The blonde carefully walked over to the other boy, taking his hand into his own pulling him gently away from the scene. There wasn’t anything else they could do now. “Come, we need to leave.” Armin whispered to the two other hunters. As the blonde walked away he threw a glance back at the completed ritual, something stirred in the back of his mind. Why did it seem so familiar to him? He didn’t know why but he ignored it and looked forward, following Mikasa out of the building with Eren. The brunette girl unlocks the car, opening the back door to help the boys get into the back seat. She gets into the driver’s side before taking off.

 

None of them knew where to go from there, so they just did what they could at that moment. Keeping her eyes on the road, boys curing up together to make a sanctuary with their bodies. They drove and didn’t look back, there was no use in looking back now.

 

When Mikasa could barely keep her eyes open she pulled into the nearest motel. With the room paid for they collapse into the bed. The brunette girl didn’t even pull the sheets over her before she fell asleep, while the two boys pulled the sheets over their heads completely tucking them under the warmth. Even in the darkness they both stared into each other’s eyes, searching for whatever it was that they wanted from the other. Love, Happiness, to be together.  All things they wanted, but unsure if they deserved it or could even obtain it. So, instead Armin curled into Eren. Resting his head against his chest, hearing his strong heart beating reminding him that after everything they were still alive. Still alive and together, that was all that really mattered. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep in the other boy’s arms.

 

The orange light from the sunrise poured in through the window, Eren pulled the sheets away from his head to look around the room. He was the first to rise once again, Armin still tightly clung to him under the sheets while his sister slept soundlessly on top of her own bed on her belly. He wanted to curl up and sleep some more, letting the heat from the blonde’s skin keep him warm, but he knew he couldn’t go back to sleep after the events of last evening. Instead he carefully untangled his body from Armin’s. Once, reluctantly, free from the other boy he got up to look outside. There was something off as he looked at their car. Without thinking Eren walks out of their motel room and towards the vehicle. “Shit.” He muttered as he saw the passenger side window had been smashed in. Broken glass was sticking out from the door frame and covered the seat. What he wasn’t expecting was the rock they must have used to do this was sitting amongst the shattered fragments. He reached into the car and picked it up, turning it over to see a perfectly folded note attached to it.

 

It read, ‘You’re going to lose, just give up before I take everything you love from you. Everything that’s still left that is.’ Eren scrunched it up in his fist, throwing the rock aside. He turned and walked right back into the motel room, shaking both of his friends awake.

 

“What’s wrong, Eren?” Mikasa asks. She looked as she did before she went to sleep, not a hair out of line and her eyes still fixed in an almost emotionless stare.

 

“That bitch that’s possessing my mother broke our fucking window and left this.” He flattened the scrunched-up paper on the table beside him. Passing it first to Mikasa and then to Armin, letting them read the words written on them.

 

“Do you think she has someone following us?” Armin quizzed the group as he passed back the not to Eren.

 

“Well obviously- After her fake hunters failed to kill us or whatever she has someone else following us!” The brunette boy stuffed the paper into his pocket. “I bet they know that to really finish it we have to kill that bitch and is trying to stop us from getting our hands on something that could do that.”

 

“We can’t kill the demon when its still inside Carla.” Mikasa interjected.

 

“I know we can’t do that but how are we going to get the demon out of her and then into someone we can kill- Not just will that be hard, but we’ll still be killing an innocent person.” Armin paused looking between the two siblings, “This is going to be difficult, also factoring out getting a weapon that can kill demons.”

 

“We’re also forgetting the point of how we will even find the location of the next ritual.” Mikasa frowned at the floor.

 

“I- I don’t know.” Armin said as he pulled out his phone to show the map he’d been keeping of where all the rituals have been taking place. “This last one breaks any semblance of a pattern we had. The rituals before seemed to make a large rectangle with one in the middle of the first half of that shape- Now There’s an extra location below the original rectangle the rituals made out.”

 

“So, you’re saying me might have to kill my mum and we can’t find were the hell she’ll be next anyway.” Eren tried to hide the anger behind his voice, but he failed. He sunk into a chair and pulled on his messy hair.

 

“It’s not over, it’s just going to be hard-” Armin paused as he thought through what they should do next. “We should focus on just trying to perform an exorcism on Carla- how will we protect ourselves from being possessed ourselves?” He looks up to the other hunters, he still hadn’t learnt everything about hunting and was hoping they would have the answer.

 

Mikasa scrunched up her face before rummaging through her bag, “Erwin gave us those anti-possession symbols.” She pulled them out to show the boys.

 

“What will we just wear them? Can’t they just be taken off us and render us free real estate.” Eren let his hands fall from his scalp.

 

“There is a more permanent solution if you’re up for it.” The brunette girl raised her eyebrow at him.

 

Armin gets out of the car after their excursion, rubbing his chest which only resulted in it stinging more, “That really hurt. How did you not even react to it?” The blonde asked Mikasa.

 

She shrugged, “I have a high pain tolerance.”

 

Eren circled his arm around the other boy, gently pulling him into his side. Resting his cheek on top of the blonde’s head. Armin held onto his side as they walked towards the motel room. When Mikasa opened the door, she stopped dead in her tracks, causing the two boys to bump into her because they weren’t paying attention to where they were going at all. “Eh, what’s wrong?” Eren asked as he looked over his sister to see into the room. Carla sat on one of the beds, resting on one of her elbows as she threw them a smirk. The brunette boy pushed past his sister, the other boy still clinging to his side.

 

The demon straightened up while looking over the kids in front of her, “Aw, how cute.”

 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Eren seethed.

 

“Oh, well you’re mummy wants to see you or something like that.” She tapped her index finger against he head before chuckling, “But, really, I wanted to talk to you three.” The demon gets up and spreads their arms wide apart dramatically.

 

“And why is that?” Mikasa quizzes the woman in front of them.

 

“I was just wondering if you got my message?” The demon turned her back to them and walked around the room getting a good look at how the hunters have unpacked their things.

 

“Yeah, straight through one of our windows.” Eren hissed at her.

 

Carla turns to the teens, wiggling her finger while she tuts at them, “Don’t be so aggressive-” The demon pauses as she smooths her fingers over the untouched sheets of Mikasa’s bed. “All of you don’t seem to understand how to keep your noses out of things that don’t concern you at all.”

 

“How does this not concern us, when you’re killing people and doing some wacko ritual for whatever you’re doing.” Eren grits his teeth, pulling the blonde closer to him.

 

“I can see that you won’t back off-” She sits down on Mikasa’s bed, the demon then looks up towards the teens, “How about we play a little game.” Carla smiles at them viciously.

 

“A- A game? Are you crazy?” Eren gasps at the idea.

 

“Yeah a game. I give you a little heads start, and we’ll see if you can catch me.” The demon winks at the teens. Out of nowhere she pulls out a card then tosses it towards them, “Can’t wait to see you there.” Carla gets up and begins to back away towards the wall furthest away from the hunters. She stops, points at Armin and flashes a cold smile, “Oh, blondie, don’t think I forgot about you trying to exorcise me. That really pissed me off.” Her voice was harsh. With her last words out for them to process she disappeared into thin air, nowhere to be seen.

 

Armin pulls away from Eren to go collect the card the demon had left with them, after her final words the brunette didn’t like the idea of him going too far and had firmly held onto his arm the whole time. “It’s a location- I’m not sure what it’s for but she definitely wants us to come to her next time.” The blonde boy then backs up into Eren’s chest, passing him the note.

 

“We can’t go.” Mikasa said plainly.

 

“Ah- why not?” Eren growls at the girl, “It could be the location of the next killing, we’ll be able to stop it.”

 

“Or that’s what she’ll want us to think and it’ll end up being a trap.” The brunette girl had a stern tone while stating what she thought, “I can’t let anyone go if it’s just a trap.”

 

“And what we wait for the next few rituals to help us find a pattern again?” He demands.

 

Both of them look to Armin, both expecting him to take their side in the argument, “Although I think it’s a trap-” Mikasa looks smugly at her brother, while Eren shows the blonde boy his deep frown at his agreement with his sister. “I think we should go; we might be able to exorcise her. All we can do is make sure we’re prepared.” Armin finishes his sentence.

 

Mikasa sighs, “Fine we’ll go, but we need to be as careful as possible. Our last tactic didn’t work so we’ll need to find another way.”

 

The teens immediately begin to pack up for their journey to the meeting place. Since they didn’t have the time to fix the window they just made do with taping some tarp to the open space where the glass should have been. Mikasa really hoped they didn’t get pulled over while they travelled.

 

Finally, Mikasa pulled the car over to the location the demon had given the teens. It was yet another abandoned building. With his phone out Armin looked between the screen and the place in front of him, “I don’t want to freak anyone out, but this is lands on the rectangle created by the rituals, right between two of the last ones actually.”

 

“We won’t let her use us for her ritual like last time- this time we know what we’re getting into.” Eren takes a deep breath and starts walking towards the building. The other two hunters look between each other before jogging to catch up with him.

 

The trio walk into the house to begin looking around. The front door slams shut behind them; the teens twirl around to look at it. Mikasa takes one step towards it, the floorboards under her feet creaking. She stops as the hairs on the back of her neck stand up straight, a chill creeping down her spine. She swirled around, the two boys staring at her when she does. In the centre of the room stands the demon they had come to meet with. “I was wondering when you’d get here.” She said the words plainly, her body looked stiff with her hands stuck to her sides.

 

Both boys then turned to face her as well, “What is it that you want from us?” Eren grits out.

 

Carla finally moves, just her right arm. Lifting it up to carefully touch her chin with her index finger, “Hmm- Well I think you already know. If you don’t get the fuck out of my business I’ll just have to have mummy kill each and every one of you.” She pouts, “You don’t know how much that hurts her, but I feel the pain- it’s delicious.”

 

“Oh, you bitch!” The brunette boy seethes

 

“If you want to fight this, just try- I’ll win in the end, I always do.” The demon hissed.

 

Just like with the last demon both Mikasa and Eren go on the attack. Throwing hits at the possessed Carla. The demon easily blocked and dodged incoming hits, flicking her wrist to throw them away from her like junk. Carla reaches into her pocket and pulls out a blade, smiling at them. The teens look between each other, they didn’t want to use weapons because they were afraid to hurt her. But it couldn’t be helped, Mikasa picked up a plank of wood off of the floor. On the other hand, Eren grabbed a broken chair leg. They swung their makeshift weaponry at the demon to beat her back, with Carla slashing at the teens with her blade. Mikasa pulled her plank of wood back over her shoulder and swung with all her strength Just as Carla did the same with her knife. The brunette girl hits the demon over the head as she gets a good cut across Mikasa’s chest.

 

With the demon weakened Eren tackles her to the floor. Mikasa watched, her cut shirt slightly hanging open showing off the slash on her chest, blood trickling down her front. But, that wasn’t what took Carla’s eye, a anti-possession symbol was tattooed over her heart. “How interesting- going to all the trouble to get that on your body to protect you when you’re just going to die anyway.”

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Spat Eren. “Armin, now.”

 

The blonde boy cleared his throat before he started the exorcism of Carla Jaeger once again, “Priinceps gloriosissime cælestis militiæ, sancte Michaël Archangele.”

 

But The demon didn’t seem to react, she actually started to giggle. “What?” Mikasa muttered under her breath.

 

“Did you really think you’d be the only one coming with protection.” With what mobility she had pinned under Eren the demon gestured to the tattoo adorning Mikasa’s chest. Eren turned slightly to push up one of the demon’s shirt sleeves. There on her forearm was a symbol branded on her skin, “I had to do it after last time, blondie.” Carla spoke directly at Armin.  

 

The blonde boy shuffled closer, tilting his head while looking at the marking. It was a circle with a line through part of it. “I’ve seen it before-”

 

Before he could continue his thought the demon throws Eren off of her and stands up straight. “Sorry, sweetie, can’t have you telling all my juicy little secrets.” She smacked him hard across the face. Armin stumbles and falls to the ground while cupping his throbbing cheek. The demon turned to look at her blade on the floor as does Eren, both diving to grab it before the other does.

 

Both of them wrestling for the weapon as Armin gets up off the floor still holding his face, tears threatening to spill from one eye, “I remember what it is! It’s a binding symbol, it’s to keep the demon inside! You need to break it someway!” He yelled over the squabble.

 

Mikasa grabs the broken wooden chair leg that her brother had discarded and hit Carla over the head, cringing at the great thwack that moved through the air. Her attack allows Eren to grab the knife, getting up wit it proudly on display in his hand. The brunette girl heaved the demon onto her feet. Eren grabs his mother’s arm and slices through the symbol, breaking its power. Swiftly the possessed Carla grabs Eren’s wrist, before anyone could tell what was going on she pulled his hand forward. Thrusting the blade into her abdomen, “Call it insurance.” She hissed lowly to the boy. With his eyes wide Eren drops his hand from the blade, leaving it buried into his mother’s stomach. The demon laughed, “If you exorcise me now she’ll die.”

 

Eren paused. He looked away from everyone in the room, who seemed to all look at him. “I wouldn’t want her to die trapped in her own mind with you controlling her like a puppet.” He held back tears, still not looking at anyone else around him.

 

“But, Eren-” Armin started, reaching out to touch the other boy.

 

“Just do it!” Eren screamed as hard as he could

 

Mikasa picked up the blade and carved another binding symbol as Armin drew a devil’s trap. They dragged her over to it, breaking the symbol letting the blonde finally finish the exorcism and sending the demon back to hell. Carla coughed and sputters, finally released from the demon’s hold on her body. Eren finally turned to the rest of the room and stumbled over to his mother, dropping to his knees at her side. He held eye contact with her as he pulled the blade from her stomach, throwing it aside. The brunette boy pressed his hand over the wound trying to lessen the blood flow. Carla reached up and gently caressed her son’s face, “I’m so proud of you and whatever you do- Just know that I love you, now and even when I’m gone.” She looks to Mikasa and reaches out, clasping her adopted daughter’s hand in her own, “That goes for the both of you.” She looked to the ceiling. She paused for a long time before she uttered, “You’re father and I will always be with you.” With her last breath. Carla’s body seemed to go ridged and cold in Eren’s arms, her grip on Mikasa relaxed and her hand slipped through the girl’s fingers. The brunette boy pulled his mother closer to him, touching his forehead to her chest as his sister pulled her hand to her chest, squeezing her fingers into a tight fist. Both Jaeger kids let their hot tears slip down their faces.

 

Why did they lose everyone they loved? Was this the price of fighting? Were they willing to pay more if it meant their freedom? Eren pulled away from his mother. If that’s what it took to end this thing then he would pay it. He’ll give it all up to stop this coming war between earth and hell.


	25. Chapter Twenty-five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I was able to write like crazy and finish the next few chapters before I started my assignments! Therefore, you guys won't have to wait any longer for chapters <3  
> Enjoy <3

The sky seemed to mirror the feelings of the teens. Dark grey clouds swirled above their heads, angry and sad. Ready to unleash its thunder and rain on the world. That was exactly what Eren was ready to do too. As he sat on his knees at the makeshift burial for his mother, shaking with tears falling endlessly down his cheeks. He was surer than ever before that he would be the one to end this, finish it for good. He was ready to pay the ultimate price to finish it once and for all. He would do whatever it took, for his parents. When the rain finally started to drip down onto the earth, Eren sat there emotionless letting the water beat down onto his skin. Letting the chill creep deep into his bones. He felt so hollow. Almost like nothing really mattered anymore. Nothing but his need to kill the demon who had done this to both his parents.

 

His clothes were soaked through with rainwater when Mikasa tugged on his arm. He let her pull him away from his mother. Water dripped from his eyelashes blurring his vision of her, but he needed just one last look at his mother. He didn’t want to forget her face. He didn’t want to forget her blue eyes, her dark hair or the feeling when she hugged him. But he let his sister pull him away, take him away to his mother’s car. Let her push him inside the vehicle. Where Armin was ready with a towel, wrapping him tightly in it and his embrace.

 

Mikasa tried to hide her sniffling, her rubbing the back of her hand against her red eyes. She clenched onto the steering wheel. The brunette girl wondered when the suffering would end, how much more could she bare going forward? She didn’t think she could take much more of this. Silently she started the car, more than ready to go back to her happy place. Ready to go back to the hunter’s pub, ready to go back to Sasha. To be with someone she loved before anything got worse.

 

The brunette girl drove non-stop until she reached the pub. The trio rushed inside to find Sasha packing up, wiping down the bar without a care in the world. When she looked up she saw the sopping wet hunters. Sasha rushed over to them, knowing the look etched onto their faces from the last time they came to her with a similar look on their faces. She didn’t need to ask questions, she only wanted to get them somewhere warm where they could rest.

 

The next day they all sat at the table in Sasha’s kitchen, food untouched before them as they sat in silence. Eren stared at the wall numbly once again, his arms resting on the surface with his fists clenched tight. He was here again. More loss, again. But inside his gut a deep hatred grew and twisted. He was going to release his own storm on hell for what they have done, then they would be sorry. He would make them regret everything they have ever done.

 

The group sat in silence as nobody wanted to be the first one to talk about what happened or where they went from here. But Eren had other ideas, he needed to do this, and he would get it done if it would be the death of him, “Sasha can you leave.” He said coolly. Sasha hesitated, looking towards Mikasa for her guidance. “I said leave!” The brunette boy was quickly loosing his patience. The girl got up, grabbing her plate piled high with food and scooted out of the kitchen. Now it was just the trio sitting together, Mikasa and Armin looked at each other. “We need to find a weapon to kill that son of a bitch.” Eren seethed.

 

“I’ve been doing research but- so far, I haven’t found anything.” Armin reaches over to touch the other boy, but he gets up from his chair pulling away from the blonde.

 

“Then look harder.” Eren’s voice was cold as he walked away from his two friends.

 

Armin got up from his chair as well and began to walk away as Mikasa called out to him, “What are you doing?”

 

He didn’t look back to her as he spoke, “Going to find- Something.” The blonde continued on his way. Mikasa sat there watching the two boys walk away from her, leaving her alone in the kitchen of the pub. She heaved a heavy sigh and picked up her fork to start prodding at her food.

 

Armin had grabbed a few books he knew had details on demons inside its covers and went to sit down at a booth in the pub. He opened up the books, flipping through pages. Something itched at the back of his mind. He couldn’t remember why but that symbol used for the ritual looked familiar. Almost like he had seen it before. Where had he seen it before? He wasn’t sure, so he kept looking. He was interrupted by Eren dragging Mikasa over to where the blonde was sitting, “That bastard used my mother to complete its sick ritual.”

 

“Where?” Armin asked, taking out his phone to look at the location of the other rituals.

 

“Where we had asked to meet it.” Eren said plainly, a hit of anger for the demon still lingered in his voice.

 

“Then-” Armin pointed to the space opposite the sight that would complete the strange rectangle, “Here would be the next one.”

 

“I still don’t get why its shaped like that with the one ritual inside and the other outside of the others.” Mikasa frowned at the map.

 

Then it was like something hit him, he opened the book Erwin gave them and flipped through until he found a rather large drawing of a symbol, “It’s the sigil of Lucifer- or the seal of Satan.” He then connected all the ritual to show the sigil on the map. “They’re using the rituals to make a giant sigil of Lucifer.”

 

“What are they using it for and what do the rituals mean?” Eren asked leaning over to get a better look at the map.

 

Finally, he realised why the ritual symbol looked similar, he had seen something else that looked like it. The blonde flipped through another book to find yet another page, it had a drawing of a symbol similar to the one used in the rituals, the only difference was the pentagram was the right way up and the letters used in it were different, “This is the sigillum Dei, the seal of god. It contains the names of god and their angels-” Armin paused to open up his picture of the ritual symbol, “Instead of god it is inscribed with the name of Lucifer and his demons, all probably angels who agreed with him and fell from heaven. It’s like an anti-sigillum Dei- Then it must do a similar thing, the seal of god supposedly grants the individual the power over all creatures but archangels, therefore the anti-sigillum Dei must grant power to or over hell and its creatures.”

 

“I’m still not following.” Eren frowned at the open books on the table.

 

 “Whatever they’re doing is strengthening hell’s powers-” Armin looked back to the map seeing the areas that still hadn’t had a ritual performed there, “Powers that will be able to help them break through into the land of the living and take over.”

 

“When do you think the last ritual take place?” Eren sat down next to the blonde, sliding over in the booth to get close enough to see everything set up around the other boy.

 

“Well there’s only two places left for the rituals to take place, but since the rate the killings seem to be quickening so it’s going to be soon-” Armin paused looking up to the brunette boy next to him, the tip of him nose brushing the other boy’s. “The wall between the hell and earth is at it’s weakest on the thirty-first of October, I’d assume it would take place then.” His voice came out breathy as his eyes trailed down to Eren’s lips.

 

Mikasa coughs awkwardly, “That’s only a few days away- We need to get that weapon.” She states plainly, before getting up and walking away.

 

Armin looks away slightly, “She’s right we need to find something to kill the demon before the time is up.” He looked back at the other boy, slightly tilting his head to the side while leaning in. The blonde boy pushes his lips against the other boy’s. Armin automatically garbs hold of the hem of Eren’s shirt. The kiss was a weird mix of soft and emotionless almost. Empty just like the brunette boy. After the death of both his parents Eren had just felt so hollow, he just didn’t have room for romance right now. Armin pulled away awkwardly, biting his lower lip, “I’m sorry.” He got up from his seat, closing the books and stuffing them all into the cradle of his arms, “I’m sorry.” Armin almost cried as he rushed off behind the bar, disappearing into the kitchen.

 

Eren sighed, running his hands through his hair. He may not have time for love didn’t mean he didn’t love Armin. He swore to himself he would fix this after he stopped hell, but for now he had a weapon to find.

 

Eren got up to find Mikasa, she was with Sasha and the two of them were talking in low voices. “Mikasa, we need to talk.” He gestured for her to follow him.

 

Away from any other people Mikasa started the conversation, “What is it?”

 

“We need to find this weapon; I think we need to go to some experts in this area.” He told his sister. “We’re going to have to see Erwin, Levi and Hanji.”

 

“Fine if there is no other choice.” Mikasa rolls her eyes, “I’ll go get Armin, meet us at the car.” The brunette girl turned on her heal to go find the missing boy.

 

Something strange churned in Eren’s stomach, he wanted to tell his sister to go to the car and let him get Armin. But, he stopped himself as difficult as that was to do. The other boy probably didn’t want to see him, even if that made him feel all sorts of wrong. Still the itch remained, urging him to go to the blonde. He couldn’t he just couldn’t, Eren thought to himself, he had work to do and his feelings would just get in the way. The brunette turned on his heal and walked out of the pub, straight to the car. This was for the best, for them all. He opened the passenger side door and got in. Eren was sure that he could solve this predicament when it was all over. When it’s over everything will be right.

 

Eren waited until Mikasa came out with Armin. The blonde rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand before getting into the back seat. In complete silence the brunette girl turned the key to start the engine before driving off towards their next destination.

 

Once again the teens pulled up to the beautifully kept house. The trio walked up the path to the door. Mikasa raised her fist to the wood and knocked three times. They only had to wait a minute until someone opened the door. The short man looked up slightly to teens, “What are you brats doing here?” His tone cold and harsh.

 

“We need more help.” Eren stated.

 

Levi opened the door, “Of course you do. We told you that you’d be getting in way over your heads.” He lead the teens back into the dining room where Erwin sat, waiting.

 

As Eren sat down he hesitated to say the words, spitting them out as fast as his tongue would let him “Mum and dad are dead.”

 

Both older men froze as they stared at the kids in front of them, “I’m so sorry.” Erwin started to speak, he wasn’t sure of what else to say as he opened and closed his mouth trying to think of something to say, “They were good hunters.” The older blonde finally said.

 

“And now you need our help with whatever your parents got you into- and got them killed.” Levi said in a monotoned voice. He leans forward over the table, “You should back out now before you die too.”

 

Erwin pulled the shorter man back into his seat, “I think he just means that he cares about your wellbeing- If this is what you need to do then we can help.” Levi leaned back in his seat and rolled his eyes at the other man’s words. “I’ll call Hanji and we’ll see what we can do from there.” The older blonde got his phone out and made the call, speaking with them on the device for a few seconds before hanging up. “They’re on their way here.”

 

The group of hunters sat in an awkward silence as they waited for Hanji to show up. When there was a knock at the door Erwin jumped up from his seat to usher them inside, “So, why do you guys need me?” Hanji asked the blonde man. Their eyes land on the trio of teens, “Oh, hi guys. How does the hunt for the demons go?”

 

Mikasa looks at both boys before answering Hanji’s question, “Not well.”

 

“Huh- What happened?”

 

“They killed mum and dad.” Eren growls, arms firmly crossed over his chest.

 

“Oh my god- I’m so sorry.” Hanji takes a seat at the table, “How can I help the hunt?”

 

“We need something to kill it and soon.” Eren moves to rest his arms on the table and to talk to Hanji.

 

They laugh nervously, “Kill a demon, no one has ever done such a thing- except the stories about the colt, which is of course just stories.”

 

Eren raises as eyebrow, “That’s why we need your help to find something that can kill them, anything.”

 

“I’ll try but I’m not sure if we can.”

 

“Just make it quick the last ritual will be done in a few days or else we lose and everything we’ve done is wasted- everything we’ve lost.” The brunette boy grits out.

 

“Alright, alright- I’m on it.” Hanji gets up to go back to their car.

 

“Armin, go with them.” Eren says to the other boy without looking at him.

 

The younger blonde got up and walked out the door with Hanji. The boy felt like shit as he walked away, he didn’t know why he kissed the other boy like that. He had been pushing down his feeling for such a lot time and then he just did it. He didn’t even think if Eren even felt the same way as he did, but if the kiss said anything it was that he didn’t. The brunette couldn’t even look at him when addressing him. Armin felt like he had fucked up royally, there’s no going back to how it used to be. All he could do now was help his friends stop hell and then he could go hide away from all the problems he was creating.

 

With Armin’s thoughts stuck in his anxieties he ran into Hanji when they stopped at the side of their car. Hanji laughs, “I got books on demons in the back of the car.” They open up the boot, pushing aside weapons they start pulling out books and shoving them into Armin’s arms.  

 

“How many more do you need?” The blonde asked as he peaked out from behind the tower of literature, his legs starting to shake from having to hold up so many books.

 

Hanji dusted off their hands, “No, that should be it- If we’re going to find how to kill a demon its going to be in there. Come on now.” They walk off back into the house, leaving the teen to carry all of the books by himself.

 

It took him a while, but Armin finally stumbled into the dining room without dropping anything. When he placed them on the table they slid off one another and tumbled down onto the surface. “Be careful would you!” Hanji gasped. Armin just frowned in response.

 

The teens looked through all the books while the older hunters made calls trying to find anything that might be able to kill a demon. They did this for a couple of days until they found something. “Wait look at this!” Armin called to the others, “It’s in Latin, but from a partial translation it seems to be some sort of recipe that can kill a demon.”

 

Hanji walked over to the book with their mouth hanging open, “I never knew I had something like that in my collection.” They reached out and pushed the cover over, Armin’s hand being sandwiched between the pages. The book was old, made from a strange patched work of different types of leather while the pages were a strange brown colour, just darker than the yellowing pages for the words to be faintly read.

 

Erwin looked over at the teens, pulling the phone that was pressed to his ear away from him, “You better get that weapon quickly because there was just another ritual-” Collectively their blood ran cold. Their time was running out and soon the time would come.


	26. Chapter Twenty-six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the chapter! <3

Each of the hunters looked between each other, they knew what was coming next. They had spent too many days trying to find something to kill a demon they had only two days to get this thing together. “We’ll read the recipe in the car; we can’t waste any more time- We have no idea how long this thing is going to need to be put together.” Eren got up from his seat and walked out the door. Armin gathered by the things he needed and followed close behind with Mikasa. They rushed to the car, the brunette boy getting into the driver’s side with the two other hunters getting into the back seat. Eren looks into the rear-view mirror, “What do we need to do this?” He asks, catching a glimpse of Armin’s eyes in the mirror he instantly looks back to the road.

 

“The first ingredient is deadly nightshade.” Armin drags his finger cross the pages, underneath the words.

 

“That seems easy enough.” Mikasa leans over to look at the words, although she didn’t understand them.

 

They drove for a short while before pulling over. The trio got out of the car going into the woods to look for the plant. The tree of them split up to find the berries they need. They wasted hours looking until Mikasa found what they were looking for. The beautiful purple flowers was what drew her in. The brunette girl kneeled down beside the plant. She pushed the leaves around until she found the dark berries. Mikasa began to pick them off the plant, as many as she could hold. “Hey, guys, I found some!” The two boys run over to her.

 

Armin pulled a little sandwich bag out and let her put the berries inside. “We better get back to the car so you can wash your hands off.” The blonde tucked the bag softy into his pocket before they walked back to their vehicle.

 

“What’s next?” Eren asked as his sister pours water onto her hands from a bottle and rubbing them together.

 

Armin opens the book, dragging his finger down the page, “Hemlock root.”

 

Mikasa starts to scrub her hands on her on her pants, “That’s going to be quite a long drive.”

 

“What choice do we have?” The blonde boy looked over to her, hugging the book to his chest. Without further talk they drove off, Eren sped down the road. If they were going to get all the ingredients together in time he had to make sure they got there as quick as possible.

 

They arrived just after sun set; they had wasted nearly a whole day just collecting two ingredients. The trio had pulled over to another forest. Getting out to look for more plants. Armin came across the next plant, it was covered in small white flowers. He was sure this was it and called to the others. The two siblings met up with the blonde. Both boys kneel down, pushing the flowers aside and digging away at the soil. Their hands brush, they look over at the other. A blush creeping up both of their cheeks as they quickly look away to continue the digging. Once they found a good enough root both boys got up and let Mikasa cut it away from the rest of the plant.

 

With dirt under their nails the teens got back into their car, “Two down- What’s next?” Eren starts the car.

 

“This is going to be hard, but demon flesh- We need demon flesh.” He looks over the book again. “If we’re going to find a demon we should probably head to the area where the next ritual will take place- they seem to be increasing in demon activity, I’m sure we can find one there.” Armin pulled out his phone to check the location and give it to Eren.

 

The world around them was dark and the teens wondered when the could sleep. “I’d hate to say it, but we can’t hunt a demon while sleep deprived, its suicide.” Mikasa states, fighting the urge to close her eyes.

 

“But what about fighting hell?” Eren grits his teeth.

 

“If we die no one can stop them.” She frowns at the rear-view mirror meeting her brother’s eyes.

 

“Fine, just a quick nap.” He pulled over to a parking lot, “We’ll just sleep in the car.” Eren slides down the chair, closing his eyes. The two hunters leaned against each other to go to sleep curled up on the   back seat.

 

The teens woke up when the sun had risen in the sky. Each of the hunters stumble out of the car, stretching their limbs, trying to get rid of the cramps they had gained from sleeping cramped up most of the night.

 

“Now to hunt down a demon.” Mikasa yawns.

 

Armin drops down to the ground, sitting on the hard road, “I read in Erwin’s book about crossroads demons- We could summon one, that would be easy enough.” The blonde was still sleepy and wanted to be able to curl up again. With his eyes barely open he looks up at the other hunters as they nod along with his suggestion. The trio get back into the car, their limbs still stiff from the last night, to find a crossroads they could summon a demon at.

 

The teens drove until they came across dirt roads, stopping when they found a crossroads. Armin scratches around for a small box, tossing out the contents onto the seat between him and Mikasa. The blonde opens the book Erwin had given them and found what they needed to summon a demon. “Uh, you guys have some ingredients, right?” Mikasa nods and pulls out a small bag that contained a few things for more common rituals used in hunting. Armin drops in the graveyard dirt, a bone from a black cat and his own fake ID. “Now to make sure this goes to plan.”

 

Armin gets out of the car, looking back at the teens as he kneels down in the middle of the roads. He began scratching at the dirt. When the hole was big enough he places the box inside and pushes the dirt on top of it. The blonde got up, dusting his hands off on his pants and waited. He wasn’t waiting long as someone touched him gently on his shoulder, “And how can I help you?” At the sound of a young man’s voice he swirls around to look at him. The demon was showing its red eyes through the possessed man, who had dark hair and freckles across his nose.

 

“I was hoping you could give me some demon flesh.” Armin asks, although he has dealt with demons before he was more nervous than ever before.

 

The demon frowns at him, “And what would you need that for?” He didn’t get an answer from the hunter as Mikasa creeped up behind him, hitting the demon over the head with a shovel.

 

Armin took out a small blade and swallowed thickly as it finally sank in that he needed to cut some skin off another person, yes they were possessed but they were still a person. Eren steps out from the shadows and snatches the blade from him, “If you can’t do it, let me.” The brunette boy had intended it to be a kind gesture to show he still cared, but his tone came out cold and harsh. Eren mentally hit himself as he lowered himself down to the demon. He lifted up their shirt and took the blade to their skin. He pulled back with the bloody slither of flesh in his hands. Armin walked over to him with another plastic sandwich back, letting Eren drop it in there. “Another one down.” Eren frowns as he wipes the red liquid off his fingers onto his shirt.

 

The trio got back into the car and Armin opened up the large book they had gotten from Hanji. “This one’s easy, just some holy water- We just need it from a natural source.”

 

“So, a stream.” Mikasa questions as she gets into the seat next to him.

 

“Yes. I think I saw one back the way we came.” He closed the book and pulled his seat belt over his chest.

 

At the small stream Armin bent over to fill a bowl with the water. Eren tilted his head as he watched the other boy’s movements closely. The brunette felt someone’s eyes on him and looked to his side to see his sister raising a questioning eyebrow at him. Eren just coughed awkwardly and looked back at Armin, who was now kneeling with the bowl of water. He really needed to focus on what they were doing, Eren thought to himself. “defende nos in prælio et colluctatione, quæ nobis adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiæ, in cælestibusus. Veni in auxilium hominum.” The blonde boy began the exorcism of the water.  After he takes a pinch on salt and sprinkles it in. Armin then places his hand on the rim of the bowl, “Blessed are you, Lord, Almighty God, who deigned to bless us in Christ, the living water of our salvation, and to reform us interiorly, grant that we who are fortified by the sprinkling of or use of this water, the youth of the spirit being renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit, may walk always in newness of life.” He blesses the water; he ends the ritual by making the sign of the cross over the water.

 

Armin carefully gets up and carries it back to Mikasa, who was waiting with a container to keep the holy water in. “What do we do next?” She asks.

 

“From what I’ve read we just need to find somewhere to put it together.” Armin tells the group as they make their way back to the car. “Some abandoned house should be just fine.”

 

It wasn’t hard to find a place they could finish their own ritual. They set up inside the dilapidated building. Armin continued to skim the book as he gave them orders of how everything should be done. They drew a large pentagram on the stone floor in red paint. The teens gathered a small amount of wood, placing it under a metal stand. Armin placed a metal pot, although the directions said to use a metal bowl they were sure this would work just as well, on top of the set up.

 

The blonde boy started the ritual by lighting the wood up with a match, “While this heats up could you please get the holy blade we got on the wraith hunt?” He asked. Mikasa walks out of the house to retrieve what he asked for, leaving the two boys alone. Armin almost tucks into himself as he pours the holy water into the bowl to be brought to a boil over the open fire. The air was thick with tension, both of them feeling like they messed up in some way. But both of them kept their mouths shut because they had bigger problems to deal with, by the end of the night they would all the time in the world to fix what’s happen between them. Mikasa soon came back with the blade and passes it to the blonde, who then sets it by his legs where he knelt. He grabs a measuring cup and a blade. He swallows thickly as he brings it to the crook of his arm.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Eren demands, his eyes almost bulging out of his head.

 

Armin looks over his shoulder with a confused look on his face, “The ritual asks for- Well a lot of blood. But don’t worry it’s nothing fatal.”

 

“Couldn’t I do it instead?” The brunette continues nervously.

 

“No, it has to be the one doing the ritual and I’ve already started.” He gives a weak smile to the other boy and turns back to the pot of water. He cuts his skin and his blood starts to dribble into the cup. Armin uses his other hand to squeeze his upper arm to help more blood pour out from the wound. It took a while until the level in the cup reached one litre of blood. The blonde’s skin was pale white, and he looked faint as he picked up a rag, Mikasa entered the circle to help tightly tie it above his wound and then cleaned up the cut and dress it. She stepped out of the pentagram and allowed him to continue. With what strength remained he poured it into the boiling water. He picked up the remaining ingredients and dropped them into another bowl using the end of the blade he used to cut himself to mush them up. He then used the knife to drop it into the pot over the fire. Armin sired the concoction with a wooden spoon as the pungent smell filled the old house. When the blonde places the spoon aside he speaks a ritual in Latin before picking up the holy sword and dipping it into the mixture, using the wooden spoon to ladle it all over the blade.

 

He pulled the sword out of the pot and got up from the ground. Armin nearly fell over from getting up so fast, Eren rushed to his side and held onto him while Mikasa took the blade. When they walk out of the house the sun had started to go down, painting the sky in beautiful orange light. But the teens had no time to stop and watch they had more important things to do. The two siblings helped Armin into the car, they wished they could help him, but they were running out of time and had to leave for the ritual site, or they would be too late. As they got into the car Mikasa pulled out her phone and called the older hunters for back up, giving them their location to meet them there. She hung up and started the car.

 

They drove for hours, each of the teens looking out the window nervously as they watched the world become darker. Mikasa pulled up to where they thought the ritual would take place, a large abandoned warehouse on the skirts of town. The brunettes got out of the car and Armin goes to follow, Mikasa pushes him back into his seat, “You’re too weak right now to go in there with us, it’s safer out here.” She didn’t want to lose anyone else.

 

“I came with you guys to do this- I won’t get in your way, I promise. I just want to finish what we started as a group.” His eyes were large and pleading, the girl looked away and then slightly back at the boy.

 

“Fine, but on one condition-” Armin nods along with her words, “You stay safe.” Mikasa turns and walks away, regret already stewing in her stomach. She turns on her heal to watch the car of the other hunters pull up to the location. She watches them get out, ready to stop this last ritual.

 

“Come on.” Eren offers the other boy a hand while looking in the opposite direction, over the other vehicle and off into the distance.

 

“Before we go in there- I just wanted to say, I’m sorry about before in the pub.” Armin stares at the brunette, willing him to just look at him again. Wanting the other boy to just look at him.

 

“We don’t have time to talk about that right now.” Eren’s voice was once again cold as he turned to Armin but looked everywhere but the boy in front of him. The brunette was sure he was doing the right thing, pushing him away until they had the time to figure this out, he was so sure. Armin frowned, looking down, he really ruined their relationship. He was so useless.

 

The hunters met up and looked towards the building, before making their way into the building. Not sure what they were expecting. Mikasa went in first, the sword attached to her belt. They stopped at the entrance, in a circular formation, facing four people. Three men, including Reiner and Bertholt, with one woman, Annie. The third man was tall with blonde hair and a pair of glasses sitting on the tip of his nose, “We’re so glade you could come guys- Oh, and you brought friends, so fun.” He pushed his glasses up on his nose.

 

“Your-” Eren started

 

“The one that was possessing your mother, Big boss, King of hell- Yeah, it’s me.” The demon spoke its pitch-black eyes stared right back at the teens. “It’s so disappointing that you exorcised me from my old vehicle, I kind of liked it.” He smiled at them.

 

“You’re disgusting.” Eren hissed at the demon, pushing in front of his sister.

 

“And you haven’t seemed to learn your lesson about keeping your nose out of other people’s business.” The demon raised his eyebrow at the hunter, “I guess I’ll just have to teach you again.” He shrugged at them.

 

“No more talk, let’s get this over with.” Mikasa pulls out the sword holding it out in front of her.

 

Both sides charged. Mikasa went for the demon first but was flung away, hitting the wall and losing her grip on her weapon. When she got up she was met with Annie and Bertholt, the blonde woman throws a punch her way. The brunette girl just doges it the attack. She swallows thickly as she starts fighting the two others, throwing and receiving blows from both sides. Mikasa wondered how long she could hold out against two people. Soon she was helped by Levi fighting back the enemy.

 

On the other side of the room Reiner had made a beeline for Eren, still angry about their last fight. He was determined to win this time. However, the blonde man was just as pathetic as before and hadn’t improved at all. He was being easily beaten back no matter how hard he tried. Eren seemed to be taking his frustrations out on the man, paying no attention on the world around him.

 

Erwin had looked at the demon and took out his own knife, he knew he couldn’t kill the thing with it. The blonde man looked him over, “What are you going to do with that knife? Kill me?” He swaggered forward towards him, the windows suddenly shattered showering the group. Armin squeaked as he covered his head. Then black smoke swarmed into the room. No one could see through the demons flying throughout the room. Each hunter curled in on them, trying to cover themselves. The smoke seemed to fill every space, suffocating them slowly as they choke on it all. Finally, the smoke cleared the hunters looked up more demons had joined the fight, all standing close to the wall at the end of the room, just watching them.

 

The hunters pulled out weapons, hoping to slow them down until the can slow the beasts down. The forces of hell decent on the hunters, each of them being split off from the others and facing off with multiple demons and other people. With the added enemies made the fight harder, they seemed to be moving to defeat. They took hits and cuts. They took the beatings, but they still fought. They fought hard, throwing punches and stabbing at the demons.

 

Meanwhile the blonde demon sat in the middle of the room, as if waiting for someone to die so he could start his ritual to finish the long journey. Armin made eye contact and the demon got up, “I still have a bone to pick with you- Well, maybe more since you were the one that caused me out of my last body.” He took a step forward, “If it’s anyone here I hope to use your blood to finish the ritual- And then the walls being earth and hell will be brought down, we will rule it all.” He continued to make slow steps towards the boy, with the others fighting around them. Armin looked to his side to see the blade discarded by his side. He dove for it, holding it in his weakened grasp. “And what are you going to do with that?” The demon scoffed.

 

The blonde’s legs were wobbling, but he had the blade and he knew what he had to do. He held onto the weapon as hard as he could, his knuckles becoming sheet white from the pressure he was applying to the handle. Armin swung is at the enemy, the demon bent backwards. He kept fearlessly swinging the blade as much as he could with the energy left in him, it was draining quickly, but the demon kept coming at him. The blonde man had a stoic look on his face, completely unfazed by the attacking boy. With the flick of his wrist Armin flies backwards, hitting the ground hard.

 

The demon descended on the boy, grabbing a fist full of his hair and pulling his head close to him. Armin fought him, kicking his legs and letting got of his weapon to scratch at his hand holding him. “You humans were never going to win.” The possessed man whispered, his lips lightly grazing his ear. The blonde boy squirmed more in the demon’s grasp, looking towards his friends as the sword was picked up from the ground next to him, the demon tugged on Armin’s hair, pulling his head back and exposing his neck. The blonde could have called for help, but he didn’t want to be a burden to the other hunters. Especially his friends, so he kept his struggle to himself. Without hesitation the demon plunged the blade into the hunter’s belly. The boy let out a scream that echoed in the space. The fighting stopped for a second as they all looked towards the scene displayed on the floor of the warehouse. The two other teens were shattered. They screamed, tears spilling over their cheeks. Mikasa backed against the wall with a look of horror on her face. Reiner took his chance to land a hard blow to Eren’s jaw, he didn’t even see it coming. The brunette boy hit the ground; his eyes still trained on the scene playing out. He wanted to scream at the demon to not touch the boy, but not a sound would come out of his mouth. The demon leaned in close to the boy, “I told you that you’d be the last ritual, didn’t I?”

 

With his last strength Armin grabbed hold of the blade and pulled it out of his stomach, “Too bad you won’t be able to finish it.” The demon frowned at him, not being able to give a response to the boy as Armin stabbed the man with the blade. The demon’s eyes went wide as what looked like electricity flowed through the demon. He toppled over and landed on top of Armin, his body growing cold and the demon nowhere to be seen. The blade had worked, they had killed a demon.


	27. Chapter Twenty-seven

Everything paused in the room, the only movement was Eren crawling along the floor to Armin. He sat up on his knees and pushed the demon off the blonde. The brunette pulled the other boy onto his lap, pressing one hand onto the wound while holding his head up with the other. “You’re going to be fine don’t worry about it- You’re going to be fine.” Hot wet tears spill down his cheeks as he uses his thumb to caress the side of Armin’s face. Even with Eren’s hand applying pressure to the wound his blood to continue pouring out coating the brunette’s hand in a thick layer of red. The blonde’s face was paler than before, his breathing shallow. Armin took in a ragged breath as if he was going to say something, but he just exhaled as him skin went cold against Eren’s. “Come on- Please!” The brunette pressed his forehead against the other boy’s.

 

Eren looked to the other hunters, all just watching him. Hanji was pulling Mikasa up from the floor as Erwin walked over to the two younger hunters. He put a firm hand on Eren’s shoulder, “We need to leave it’s not safe here- More demons could be coming to kill us for killing their king.” He tried to pull the boy up and away from Armin’s body.

 

Eren resisted, clinging to the blonde in his arms, “Don’t you understand? It’s over, the fight is over.” He sobbed, tucking his head against Armin’s neck. He said he was prepared to pay the price to win, but he wasn’t ready for this. He didn’t think this would be the cost to win the battel. He should have never even let the boy come with him. This was all his fault, he should have done better, Eren thought to himself. The brunette continued to mentally beat himself up. Your fault. Your fault. Your fault. Eren continued to nuzzle his head into Armin’s neck. Erwin grabbed hold of the younger hunter and forcefully pulled him away. “No! I’m not leaving without him! We can’t just leave him here!” He screamed at the older blonde hunter, trying to pry Erwin’s fingers from him.

 

Hanji slipped out of the front door during to commotion and got out a sheet from the car the older hunters arrived in. They came back in and wrapped the blonde’s body in it, lifting it off the ground, “See, we won’t leave him behind. We’ll bury him later, okay?” Erwin lead the two siblings out to their own car as Hanji laid the boy on the back seat, throwing a worried look at the two teens sitting in the front of the car.

 

The group of hunters drove back to a safe house where they could rest and give Armin a funeral. The whole of the preparations Eren was quite while digging the grave. His mind raced with what ifs. He couldn’t seem to bare this place being the final resting place of his best friend and the boy he loved. The boy he had spent a lifetime with and wanted to spend another with him. Eren wasn’t sure how he could go on without the other boy. So, he stayed quiet.

 

Mikasa stopped her brother while he worked, “Eren I need to talk to you.” She said softly.

 

“I don’t want to.” The brunette grits out. He refused to listen to another word of what she had to say. Instead he continued on with what he was doing until they were ready for the funeral.

 

The hunters had gathered around the grave. They lowered the blonde boy’s body, which was contained in a wooden box, down into the hole in the ground. Mikasa and Levi pulled the ropes out from underneath the coffin. Eren’s sister looked to him and picked up a fist full of dirt offering it to him. The brunette boy went and grabbed his own clump of dirt throwing into on top of the box. The group of hunters stood there for a few moments longer until the three oldest of them turned, walking away leaving Eren with the still open grave. His sister stood behind him, “Eren, please-” Mikasa starts to speak, but the brunette boy cut her off.

 

“Just leave me alone.” He almost sobs out.

 

The brunette girl reaches out to touch Eren’s shoulder, but he moves away from her, letting her fingers slip off. “Please don’t push me away.” Mikasa begs the boy, tears rolling down her face.

 

“I said leave!” Eren yells at her, still staring directly at the open grave.

 

Mikasa gave up. She turned away and started to walk only to stop, looking over her shoulder to see her brother’s back, “He was my best friend too.” Was all she said and continued away from Eren. Losing yet another family member, all of them stolen from her.

 

When she had left Eren picked up a shovel. He picked up the dirt and threw it into the hole, loosely packing the earth over the box. He watched as it disappeared from his view under the ground, still silently crying to himself. Regret bubbling and churning inside him. Eren dropped to his knees and pushing his fingers into the dirt. It was the only thing he could think of to do to be close to the other boy again. He sat there sipping at beer while staring at the make-shift grave. Waiting like somehow he might just wake up and it will be a nightmare. Like he hadn’t failed yet again and let the one he loved die.

 

In the darkness of the world he couldn’t hold it back, he stumbled up and threw the glass bottles against the trees surrounding the burial site. Screaming on the top of his lungs, no one could hear him anyway. What was the point anymore? He gave up everything for this, hell may have been stopped but they won everything. He knew what he had to do to make this right. He turned away and walked back to his mother’s old car. He got in and drove off, swerving all over the road. But he didn’t care he needed him back and it was the only way to get what he wanted. Mothing else mattered more than this.

 

He slams on the breaks, getting out at the crossroads where they had attacked the demon not too long ago. Eren got on his hands and knees and dug. Clawing at the dirt until the small box was unearthed. He pulled the box out of the hole and opened it. The brunette took out Armin’s ID, softly grazing his finger over the other boy’s photo. The day it was taken didn’t feel too long ago, not too long ago when they were still happy and Eren wasn’t pushing him away. The brunette stuffed the fake ID into his pocket. He then took out his own ID and placed it in the box, placing it back in the hole in the middle of the road. He then pushed all the dirt back on top before taking a step back from it. He waited. He waited until the same freckled boy from before appeared to him. “What is it that you want?” He hissed.

 

“I want to make a deal.” Eren stated.

 

He scoffed, “You cut a chunk off my host.”

 

“Please, I’ve got nothing left. All I want is this last thing.” He pleads with the demon.

 

He looked over the hunter with his red eyes, “Desperate, huh- What do you want to make a deal with then?”

 

“Please just bring Armin back. He’s the only one I love, and I don’t want to live without him.” Eren cried.

 

“Fine- You have ten years before I come to collect, and you get your little boy toy back.” The demon took a step towards him, “The deal in sealed with a kiss, so let’s get this over with.” He grabbed the hunter and pulled him in, the kiss was wet with tears and awkward. The demon let him go, “You should probably get back before he gets up in the box buried under the ground.” The freckled boy laughed before disappearing from the area.

 

Eren rushed back to the car and stepped on the accelerator. He sped down the road until he reached where they had buried Armin. The brunette grabbed a shovel from the back of the car, desperately digging as fast as possible. With the metal shovel he hit the wooden box. Eren tossed the tool over the edge of the hole and used his hands to remove the rest of the dirt. He struggled with getting the lid off to see the blonde boy staring up at him, “Eren, where am I?” The brunette didn’t leave any time to grab hold of his hands and pull him out. He grabbed the other boy by the side of his face and pulled him in to kiss him. Armin was surprised, but he melted into the kiss gripping onto the other boy’s side.

 

Eren pulled away and combed his fingers through the blonde’s hair, “I love you so much.” He pulled Armin back into him and kisses him again.

 

The blonde pulls away slightly, “I- I love you too.” He says and the brunette trails his lips down the other boy’s jaw. “Ah- as much as I want to continue, maybe we should get out of this hole in the ground.” He looks around with furrowed brows.

 

Eren pulls away completely, “Yes, lets go home.” The brunette jumps out of the grave and then pulls Armin out and into his arms.

 

Together they walked back to Carla’s car. The rest of the hunters long gone. They got in and started to drive. Eren knew where he had to go. Shiganshina. He drove without sleep until they arrived. Armin gasped, “We’re home.”

 

“Yeah- And we’re not leaving again.” Eren frowned at the road.

 

“But what about hunting?” The blonde gave the other boy a confused look.

 

The brunette shakes his head slightly, “I’m done with that, no more hunting. I don’t know what we’re going to do now, but I do know that I love you and that’s more than enough for me.” Eren wasn’t going to be taking anymore chances and was more than ready to spend his last ten years with Armin.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it, the last chapter.
> 
> I really want to thank you all for going through this with me, your all amazing! I will be editing it when I get the chance, but whenever that I write something knew I really hope to see you guys there! 
> 
> Love you all <3


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